Rx: Ironman

Securian Winter Carnival 10K Race Report

2012-01-29T12:20:00.000-06:00

Um, hi. Is this thing on?

So I've been MIA lately, as in VERY MIA. Typing up a big update blog post has been on my to do list for over a month, but it quickly falls to the bottom of my list when I start to prioritize. I promise to write a more robust update soon, but here's the long and short of it:
* I love being a mom. Henry is such a ham, but he is still a very high maintenance baby.
* He also hates food and has decided that at 7 1/2 months, he'd still rather just subsist on boob juice. I'm not worried yet. The dude still has some major adorable chubs.
* I'm still gluten/dairy/soy free. Sometimes I can cheat and sneak in a little cheese, but Henry's tummy will definitely let us know if I go overboard. Occasionally it wears on me, mostly I'm fine with it. I've been craving a giant piece of chocolate cake for over 4 months. Gluten free food is okay, but it's rarely good, and it's definitely not the same. I am so fortunate that this is a temporary thing.
* Breastfeeding is still going really well. Everyone told me it would take time to finally click, and honestly, it didn't start to feel effortless until he was 5 months old.
* Fitting in workouts has been hella hard. I let myself take a break after the marathon and cut back to just a few days a week. Now that I want to start working on my base again, I'm having a hard time figuring out where that time will come from.
* Despite eating my weight in sugar and chocolate (which,thank God, does not upset Henry's tummy) and working out less than I have in the past, the pregnancy weight was gone at the 6 month mark - poof! The 42 pounds fell off without any effort. I've been able to fit into my normal clothes for a long time and have been in my extra skinny clothes for a few weeks. I'm not sure if it's muscle atrophy from not working out or actual sustainable weight loss, but it has been nice that this is not a source of stress for me. I still have some stubborn love handles to work on, though.

Alright, back to the title of this post... my 10K race report.

I did my first stand alone 10K EVER last year on Jan 1 when I was 17 weeks pregnant. I did this race a few weeks later at 21 or 22 weeks in 1:09:26 - my official 10K PR. Like I said above, training has been SEVERELY lacking lately. I had initially hoped to be able to do the half, but halfway through December, I realized that I'm not in that kind of shape right now. I was just hoping that this year I'd at least be faster than last year. I thought there would be a good chance that I could finish sub-60, and sub 55 sounded like a good round number to make my "ideal" goal, though I have no real reason why that would be attainable right now. My long runs pushing the stroller have generally been at 10+ minute miles, and my "all out" 600 M intervals at the metrodome have been at a sub 7:30 pace. Beyond that, I have no idea what my pace is these days. My plan was just to go out at a comfortably fast pace and play it by ear.

My sister Steph said she'd take Henry for a few hours, so Steve and I dropped him off at her house before driving to the race start. It was a 9:00 start, and we were there by 8:20 - plenty of time. I think I was downright giddy that Steve and I were on a "date," even though we would be running separate races at very different speeds.

Steve and me shortly just after getting to the race site

Steve's half started at 9, and my 10K went out at 9:05.

I took off at a pace that I thought was sustainably comfortably fast. I heard someone say around 3/4 through the first mile that we were doing 8:26. I was a little leary given the inaccuracy of Garmin's instant pace data, and when I hit the 1 mile mark, it was a 9:15. Not bad. Right where I'd hoped I would be. We weaved all around downtown St. Paul and saw the ice sculptures in Rice Park. They also shot off a couple of fireworks while we were circling the park. Fun! I missed Mile 2, and I was hoping that I was keeping on pace. I was starting to catch up to the back of the half marathoner pack, and I made it my goal to pick off as many packs as I could before my turn around. I hit miles 2&3 in 18:29. Those are some consistent splits! Soon after, we separated from the half marathoners, and I had to start picking off people in my own race. I was feeling pretty good and thought that I may be able to pick up the pace. I chose a lady in a blue jacket to chase down. I caught her and chose my next target. I hit mile 4 in 8:58. I was passing a lot of people, but then I hit a quiet point in the race, but I tried to continue picking up the pace. Mile 5's split was 8:45. Awesome. I was chasing a guy in orange, but it took me forever to catch him. I finally passed him on a hill. Come on, you can do this, it's just like sprinting up the hill at home. Around 5:45 into my last 1.2 miles, I told myself it was time to leave it all out there. It's just like an interval at the Dome. Pick it up... The last part of that race has us weaving back through downtown, and I can never remember which turn will be our last, but I was still passing people left and right. I passed some 5K walkers and more runners in my race. One woman did pass me back with about 100 M to go, and despite a decent kick on my part, I couldn't get her. My last 1.2: 10:22. Official time: 55:50 - exactly 9 min/mile. Given my recent lack of training and my shortage of confidence going into this race, I was pretty happy with that.

I stayed out on the course for another 25 minutes or so before heading inside for a little warmth. My plan was to be back out in time to see Steve finish, but I heard them call his name right as I hit the doors to go back outside. He had set a winter half marathon PR and had a blast dueling it out with some friends!

We shared uninterrupted race stories as we made drove back to my sister's house. Henry was fast asleep there (after a little bit of fighting it per Auntie's report). He had fun with his aunt and uncle, though!

Trying to feel the baby kick!

Hamming it up with uncle Jon

Henry fell asleep on the drive home, and he even gave us a few extra minutes to eat lunch...

I warmed up by the fire. The cats warmed up by me.

It's a little late for me, but I still haven't finalized my 2012 race calender. Hopefully that'll come soon!

Eleven Days

2011-12-20T19:53:00.002-06:00

... is how long you have left to apply to be Evotri's 2012 member!

When I finally decided to apply to be on the Evotri team in 2010, I had less than 2 weeks before their deadline. I had wavered back and forth on whether I should throw my hat in. I had applied a couple of times in the past but hadn't made it very far in the elimination process. Plus, Steve and I were starting to talk about starting a family, and I was sure they wouldn't want someone who was hoping to be knocked up soon. My desire to be on the team got the best of me, though, and I decided the only things I had to lose were a couple of hours of my time and a small piece of my pride if they decided to pass over me again.

I had known of Evotri from WIBA weekends in the past (I was one of the "original" members of WIBA back in 2006 before Evotri had been started). I had gotten the opportunity to race alongside some of the members at Ironman Wisconsin and Steelhead 70.3 and had realized what a great group of people they are. They are so down-to-earth and fun at the same time. There never seemed to be a shortage of laughs around them! I was worried that they wouldn't want to pick me. There are some crazy speedsters on the team. The current count is that JP, Michelle, and Chris have all done Kona - all since joining the team. I'll likely never earn a slot to Kona. Sara seems to get faster after each kid she's had. Rob often beats pros out of the water. Stu has posted some pretty wicked times and is now announcing for the Rev3 Series - how cool is that? Oh, and Charlie BQ'd shortly after joining the team. I told them about my passion for the sport. I told them that I wouldn't be the fastest one on the team by any stretch of the imagination, but I would LOVE to find out what the amazing gear that the sponsors were offering could do for me. In my first summer on the team, my Power Tap, my Zipp wheels, and 3 months of coaching helped me to realize a 70.3 PR. I finally broke 6 hours, and for me, that's huge. Now that I have my new QR bike and wetsuit, I am ready to GO for this summer's race season.

In the process of applying, I told the team about my plans to start a family. I wanted to make sure they knew what they'd be getting in me. They told me they were looking for somebody that wanted to make a long-term commitment to the team and that balancing triathlon and the rest of life is something that they all strive to do. Now I look to them as role models as I learn to continue triathlon in my new life as a mom.

I love Evotri's mission. I have been trying to give back to this sport since I found it in 2004 and have coaxed many friends and former strangers to all sorts of finish lines. I thought that this would be a perfect way for me to continue to give back. When they called to tell me that they'd chosen me to be the newest member of Evotri, I was so excited that I couldn't stop shaking! I had a smile on my face for weeks. It has been a true blessing to get to know my teammates better, and the sponsorship really can't be beat.

We've had so many great applications already, and I can't tell you how pumped I am to meet our newest member. If you're still thinking about applying, it's not too late! Putting together a video and envisioning next year's racing season may be the perfect way to work off your Holiday food coma.

The Beginning

2011-12-09T21:28:00.004-06:00

As part of Evotri, we were all asked to write how we got into this sport. It's a great look back to where we've each come from and to hopefully encourage any potential team members that we've all started somewhere, even JP, who recently WON an iron distance triathlon, and Rural Girl, who recently crushed her 3:30 marathon goal. My story starts with a boy...

I had been dating Steve for 2 years by the time we went off to college. We were high school sweethearts but had decided to go to seperate colleges. He was going to a small art school, and I was at a different university. As luck would have it, those schools were just under 4 miles apart. I had run cross country and track my last 2 years of high school and had loved it. Though I was definitely a middle-of-the-road runner, I loved that the more work I put into it, the more I would get out of it. They were sports where "favortism" didn't really come into play. The numbers spoke for themselves. If you could post them, you were on the roster. I loved the objectivity of it. I still ran when I went off to college, but I had decided that science majors and college sports didn't mix. I really missed the team enviornment, but I kept running for fun. On Fridays, Steve worked in the art gallery at his school. I used these days as my long run days. I would run the 4 miles down to see him and the 4 miles back. One day, I added a couple of miles. The next week, I added one more. The day I ran 16 miles, I decided I would sign up for my first marathon.

By the summer of 2003, I had run 3 and was training for my 4th marathon. I was sitting in my house and just happened to turn on the TV one Sunday. They were airing the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon on TV, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Though I had been running, I hadn’t given triathlons much thought. After watching the program, I vowed that I would be there in 2004 to race the Olympic distance race. I signed up a couple of months later and started training. It wasn’t exactly easy. I had never met anyone who had done a triathlon, so I basically learned all I could from books (I had quite the library of tri books by then). Wouldn’t you know…after all that training, my timing chip fell off my ankle during the swim. I managed to screw up my watch’s lap function during T1, so I don’t really have any idea what any of my splits were. I also lost all of my nutrition during the bike, which resulted in me almost losing my cookies at the end of the race. During that first tri, I thought about Ironman. Oddly enough, it was the M dot tatoo on a woman's right thigh that planted that seed. I saw it when I was on the run, and I thought to myself, I could do that someday. After that first race, I was hooked. I knew that more races were in my future, and in 2006, I realized my Ironman dream for the first time. The rest, as they say, is history!

Evotri Making the Team 2012

2011-11-21T21:57:00.003-06:00

Now entering its sixth year, the members of Team Evotri continue to challenge themselves and others to live a healthy and active lifestyle through endurance sports. They have been given an extraordinary opportunity to train and race with the same equipment and coaching as the pros. They continue to dedicate themselves to maximizing their potential, to sharing what they learn from their experiences, and to making a positive contribution to the endurance sport community.

Team Evotri is again ready to welcome a new member to the family. For 2012, Team Evotri and its sponsors have pulled together a one-of-a-kind package to provide an age group athlete the opportunity to train and race like a PRO, while giving back to the triathlon and endurance community. The current team members will be looking for an individual who embraces the spirit of triathlon: a positive attitude, enthusiasm for the sport, desire to improve, and dedication to give back to the endurance community. Years of triathlon experience and good race results are not deciding factors in choosing a winner, but passion is.

The next team member will benefit by receiving an excellent package courtesy of the team's sponsors:

QuintanaRoo will provide a top-of-the-line CD0.1 frameset with innovative shift technology that will undoubtedly take your bike splits to a new level.

Zipp Speed Weaponry knows just how to outfit a frame like the CD0.1 with a 404 front and 808 rear wheel set.

SRAM will add to the bike with its latest cockpit and drivetrain components.

CycleOps finishes the bike off with its cutting edge SL+ wireless PowerTap hub and Joule 2.0 computer.

HUB Endurance puts it all together providing a full year of expert triathlon coaching to deliver the newest Evotri athlete to the top of their potential in 2012.

Here's how you can be the next Team Evotri member:

Create a video that's no longer than three (3) minutes. The video should answer the following three questions:

Why Evotri?

Why You?

Can you Evotri?

Guidelines:

Videos must be posted to Team Evotri's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/evotri.

Videos must be posted by December 31, 2011, at 11:59 PM CST.

Videos not within the time constraints will not be considered.

Process:

The current team members will select finalists from the video submissions.

The finalists will be notified by January 15, 2012 and will be invited to be interviewed via teleconference by current team members.

The winner will be announced on February 1, 2012.

Important Notes:

By posting a video to Evotri's Facebook page, candidates grant contest affiliates permission to use said video for promotional purposes affiliated with Team Evotri and the 2012 contest.

The winner of the team slot forfeits all awards if he/she is unable to continue as a team member for any reason for a period within two years of joining the team.

The winner of the team slot agrees to contribute to the Team Evotri web site for as long as he/she is a member of Team Evotri.

The winner agrees to race in an Evotri team uniform for all multisport events. Winner to purchase choice of uniform apparel upon final selection.

The winner of the team slot must participate in the yearly Team Evotri event. The 2012 event is a training camp in Chattanooga, TN from April 12-15, 2012. You must be present for the entire time.

No reimbursement will be made by Team Evotri or its sponsors for the creation, submission or any other expenses associated with the video entry.

No reimbursement will be made by Team Evotri or its sponsors for any travel, lodging, race entry fees, or other associated expenses in attending Team Evotri activities.

An Awesome Letter in the Mail This Week

2011-10-23T18:50:00.002-05:00

There will be races when you show up to the start line and know you're not in for a PR. Usually this is from being undertrained - life or injury/illness got in your way. Whatever the reason, at that point you need to finalize your race strategy. Do you aim for a PR anyway and risk falling on your face? Do you assess your training and aim for a more appropriate finish time, or do you throw time out the window and decide to enjoy yourself? For my 12th consecutive Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon earlier this month, I chose that last strategy. At 16 weeks postpartum, I wasn't anywhere close to PR shape. I had squeezed in training that would get me to the finish line, but I knew my time would not be spectacular.

In my last post, I told you how I met Shelley and how we ran almost the entire marathon together. Steve saved me a screen shot of Shelley and me hugging at the finish line:

This week, I checked my mailbox at work and found this:

A closeup of her thoughtful letter

It totally made my week! Shelley, if you ever find this, it was an honor to be your "Race Angel." I hope to see you at the start line next year!

I had a great weekend of running and in the next couple of days will hopefully get together a post for the race I snuck in yesterday.

A Dozen - Twin Cities Marathon Race Report

2011-10-09T20:01:00.001-05:00

I did this race for the first time in 2000. I was a sophomore in undergrad and had no idea what I was doing, but I was well-trained for it - posting the highest mileage I've ever put in for a marathon. I've done it every year since then - sometimes faster, and sometimes I've been much slower. It's become a yearly tradition for me, and for the last 5 years or so, it's become a tradition that my family joins in on. My mom, dad, and siblings all come up to cheer and sometimes run the 10 mile or marathon too. My birthday always falls sometime around the race (it was yesterday), so after the marathon, we all come back to Steve's and my house for a grill out, to share stories, and eat birthday cake before heading our separate ways again. This year, Steve and my brothers Matt and Mike were doing the 10 mile before changing into their crazy animal costumes and cheering like maniacs at mile 25.5.

Honestly, for the last 2 years I've wondered if it was really worth it to keep up the streak. I like having something to look forward to after tri season is over, but the feel of the race has changed. It's no secret that I'm anti iPod for races. I remember writing after last year's race that everyone around me seemed to be tuned out in their own little worlds. I'm a very social runner. I've only truly raced this marathon a couple of times. Mostly I just do it to celebrate what my body can do, soak in the scenery, and enjoy the camaraderie around me. This year's race restored my love for it.

I should back up to the days leading up to the race. Henry was up 5 times Thursday night and 6 times Friday night. By the end of that night, I was honestly ready to lock him in our basement with our cats for a couple of hours. Of course I'd never actually do that, but I have to admit that the thought went through my head at 4 AM. I had the day off of work Friday so Steve and I could get ready for Henry's Baptism on Saturday. We also had an appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist that day. The doctor basically reaffirmed that it's likely an allergy to a food protein that I'm eating and recommended that I stay off all dairy, wheat, and soy since it does seem to be helping. The alternative is switching him to formula. I would rather keep breastfeeding if possible, so a restrictive diet it is. I'm not sure if it's a sheer coincidence or if it is the diet change, but his demeanor has been COMPLETELY different in the last 2 weeks. He's been a very happy guy who loves to smile, coo, and giggle, and the crying has nearly stopped. He's even been content to play with toys by himself for a few minutes here and there. The clinic and the race expo were just a few blocks from each other, so Steve and I picked up our race packets afterward.

Saturday was a flurry of excitement getting all of the food ready, putting a few last minute touches on cleaning our house, and welcoming our family. Steve's sister and my sisters were SO much help. We are blessed to have such great families. After being up those 6 times overnight, Henry didn't sleep all morning, and just when I thought he'd pass out, we put his baptismal gown on him, and he was wide awake taking the whole experience in. Here's a picture of the 3 of us. Henry's in a gown that my mom sewed for him out of pieces of her wedding dress:

Henry in the baptism gown my mom made him

Henry slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but not nearly as much as normal, so I thought he'd pass out at 7 and be good to go for the night. We made some pasta for my family who was staying the night (I had quinoa pasta. You know what? It's really pretty good!). Henry had plans of his own. We tried for hours to get him down, and every time we thought we'd been successful, he'd wake up again.

At 11:30 PM, after more than 4 hours of trying to get my baby to sleep. I was getting desperate. I thought about backing out of the race the next day. I was tired and frustrated from so many nights in a row with no sleep. I handed a crying Henry to my mom and collapsed as a blubbering pile into my dad's arms - asking how the heck I was supposed to continue doing this every night while working full time at a job that requires my brain to be in top-shape. My parents sent me to bed and promised to take care of Henry. I finally passed out. I woke up an hour and a half later to him crying, and for a moment, I panicked that he'd been crying the whole time. It turned out that he just thought it was his job to entertain the company, though. He'd been up laughing, talking, and playing with my parents the whole time. I fed him briefly, and he finally passed out at 1 AM. We then slept for 4 glorious uninterrupted hours until my 5 AM alarm went off.

I got dressed, pumped, and woke up the rest of the house. My mom took Steve, Matt, Mike and me to the start line. I saw them off for the 10 mile start and put the rest of me together. I smothered myself in body glide, ate a mint chocolate Gu, and got in line for Corral 3. When they sang the National Anthem, I said a quick prayer thanking God for the opportunity to be out there running, for my health, and for my VERY supportive family. They played "Everybody Looks Good at the Starting Line," and we were off! My plan was just to go at a comfortable pace, have fun, and hang out at the back of the pack.

At around mile 0.5, I complimented a woman on her shirt. It had the tracings of her 2 kids' feet and said something to the effect of, "We're behind you mom!" With that, I met Shelley. She was running her first marathon ever. We talked about our families. I told her some of the fun parts of the course to look forward to and where the hills would be. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we just ran together. We were very matched in pace, so we just stayed together. Around mile 12, John joined us. He had been running near us for most of the race. It was also his first marathon. His son was born on the exact same day as Henry but had had some initial complications, so his training wasn't what he'd hoped. Twelve miles was his longest run. I invited him to run with us, so he did. We ran along the river together telling stories and jokes and enjoying the gorgeous day. Normally, I would have thought it was much too hot, but this year I was glad it was a little warm so Henry wouldn't be cold while he was out cheering. I was so happy to be running, and though the typical aches and pains of a marathon snuck up on me earlier this year, I was having a lot of fun. I said in my last post that my goal would be to hang out with people at the back of the pack and to enjoy myself. If I could find a newbie to cheer on, that would be an added bonus.

John ran with us until mile 22 or so. He was stronger up the hill. I saw him look back a couple of times while he was ahead of us, but by that time, we were on Summit - the home stretch. I hoped he'd go on without us if he was feeling good, and he did. Shelley and I ran Summit together. We never had to stop and walk, though our pace was slowing down. I was just so happy to still be running and to still be feeling relatively OK. We looked for her family around mile 24 and then looked for mine at mile 25.5. I beamed when I spotted the farm animals! I high-fived my family and smooched my baby.

Spotting my family

Shelley and me at mile 25.5

High Fives for my family, running to smooch my baby

A high five for my bud Maddy. She was out there a couple of times to cheer!

I spotted the giant flag near the finish line as I crested the hill by the Cathedral. Shelly and I picked up the pace and ran to the finish line together. When we crossed, I congratulated her and asked if I could give her a hug. "I wish you would!" she exclaimed. We hugged twice, I congratulated her again, and I made my way up to find my family. Here are my splits just in case you're interested, but they weren't important. This was my second slowest marathon ever, but honestly, it was one of my most fun.

Miles 1&2: 22:50
Mile 3: 11:40
Mile 4: 11:26
Mile 5: 11:32
Mile 6: 11:53
Mile 7: 12:14
Mile 8: 11:16
Mile 9: 11:44
Mile 10: 11:48
Mile 11 & 12: 23:32
Mile 13: 12:07
Mile 14: 12:16
Mile 15: 11:25
Mile 16: 12:13
Mile 17: 12:03
Mile 18: 12:21
Mile 19: 12:32
Mile 20: 12:36
Mile 21: 13:14
Mile 22: 14:11
Mile 23: 13:45
Mile 24: 14:05
Mile 25 & 26: 27:25
Last 0.2: 2:46

Total time: 5:23:15

We all came back to Steve's and my place, grilled some delicious food, and said our goodbyes after a busy, fun-filled weekend. I snuggled my baby, and the two of us took a nap together.

Resting with Mama

That night, Henry slept through the night for the first time EVER. I'm not sure if the weekend wore him out or if running a marathon on an 80 degree day gave me a super concentrated milk supply - maybe a combination of both.

Final thoughts:

* We did end up making that sign for Henry's stroller:

* Running a marathon while nursing makes you HUNGRY!!! I normally eat around 400-500 calories over the course of a marathon, but this year, I ate over 800 and still had trouble keeping up. I had 4 gels, a pack of Powerbar chewies, a pack of Sharkies, and more than a full banana. I ran with a 6 oz bottle and managed to consume 10 bottles (5 tablets) of NUUN and another 5-10 bottles of water. I did a good job of keeping up with my hydration given the heat and was only down 2 pounds after the race.

* Speaking of nursing, everyone asks if I was OK going that long without, ahem, "relieving" myself. When I first signed up, I thought I'd have to spot a pump somewhere given my expected finish time, but I was fine. I can normally go 6-8 hours without too much trouble, and I think the dehydration factor worked in my favor.

* The NUUN and my slow pace made a HUGE difference in my cramping during and recovery after the race, which was good since I still had to safely carry a baby up and down our stairs.

* The sleeping through the night was a one-time deal. He woke up 5 times the next night but was only up 1-3 times the rest of the week, so I'm calling it progress.

* I wore my sacro-illiac support belt for all of my long runs and for the race. I still ended up with some SI pain, but I do think it helped. I'm hoping to be able to wean myself off of it now that runs of that distance are done for a few months.

* I don't have any races on the calendar yet but am definitely looking forward to being back next year. My focus this winter will be getting my speed back.

* Speaking of winter, I think I'm using my birthday money to buy the weather shield for the BOB. Obviously I'm not going to take Henry out in crazy temps, but he LOVES being outside, so on milder days, we can still get out for some fresh air.

And with that, I'll leave you with one last picture of Henry from this week:

Happy little guy wearing his "Born 2 Farm" onesie :)

Have a great week everybody!

So it Turns Out I'm NOT a Supermom

2011-09-27T21:35:00.002-05:00

As I was preparing to go back to work, I had this grand plan in my head. Henry was still waking up once or twice a night, but I figured this was a manageable schedule for when I'd be back to work. Marathon training was going OK, considering, and we finally had our childcare situation lined up. I was going to be able to balance a career, my family, and maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle. I was going to be a Supermom. I'm now in the middle of my 4th week back to work, and boy am I pooped. Henry has regressed back to every 3 hour feedings, and we've consistently been up 3-5 times a night. Twice a night seems to be a welcome rarity. By the time I get done with an 8-10 hour day at work, I'm totally beat, and given that Henry needs to make up for lost time on the boob, I'm constantly feeding him. My visions of evening runs with the stroller have turned into mommy-baby naptime.

Last Friday, Henry was up 5 times overnight. By morning, I was SO tired. All I wanted was for Steve to say, "Here, honey, I've got this one. I'll go get him a bottle." Instead, he poked me and informed me the baby was hungry again. I got up 20 minutes early to throw supper in the crock pot only to discover I left the tubing to my breast pump at work and would be pumping with the hand pump so Henry had food to take to daycare. So much for those extra 20 minutes. By the time I got to work late, crabby, tired, and at the end of my rope, I thought, "Hmm. I'm still hungry." That's when I realized I had forgotten to eat breakfast. I haven't forgotten to eat breakfast in 30 years. Of course then he had a great weekend equipped with a happy demeanor and lots of giggles and naps with mommy. I started the week rejuvinated, but I'm already back to needing a mid-morning caffeine fix...

I've been getting in my long runs on the weekends, but there has been a serious hole in the rest of my training. My 18 miler 2 weeks ago went really well, but my 20 miler a week ago wasn't so pretty. I'm a little nervous how the marathon will go this weekend. I'm just going to have to focus on hanging out with people at the back of the pack and enjoying myself. It's the only way I'll get through the last 6 miles.

On a brighter note, being back at work has been going OK aside from the serious sleep deprivation. I bounced back faster than I thought I would, and although I don't have as much time at the end of the day to socialize (I'm running out the door to make it pick up Henry), I do enjoy seeing my coworkers again. I'm also back to a weight that I've been before. Granted it's a weight that I usually see at the end of an overindulgent winter, but it's relieving to at least fit into my "fat" pre-pregnancy clothes. I've got another 6 or 7 pounds to lose, but I know I need to be patient. I worried so much going back to work that I couldn't find any clothes to buy, but it has turned out that I've been OK wearing some carefully selected items from my own closet. In the last couple of weeks, I've been catching glimpses of myself in the mirror and have noticed that I'm getting my waist back! Last but not least, Henry's demeanor is getting MUCH better, and we can at least lay him on the floor to play for a few minutes here and there. We used to have to hold him constantly, and even then, he cried all of the time. It's amazing how much you can get done in 10 minutes without a baby in your arms! We still haven't figured out his tummy troubles. We're seeing a pediatric gastroentrologist on Friday. I'm currently off of all dairy, soy, and wheat products. At times it's really hard, especially since it means we have to cook all of our food at home, but I keep telling myself that lots of fruits and veggies, lean meats, and nuts is really how I should be eating anyway. I haven't been perfect and have snuck in a baked good here or there (I'm hungry ALL of the time and have a whole mouth full of sweet teeth), but overall, it's going better than I thought it would. Henry hasn't had a bloody poo since last Thursday. It's hard to say whether it's sheer coincidence that his demeanor is getting better since getting rid of wheat and soy or whether it's making a difference...

Steve's been putting in crazy hours at work, but some of that is starting to work itsself out. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I won't need a daily afternoon nap. Henry will continue to be happy enough to take out in the stroller, and Steve and I can take shifts in the evenings so the other one can get out and get in a workout. In the meantime, I'm running a freaking marathon this weekend! It's been my dream since I signed up to put a sign on our stroller in the cheering section that says, "I did this last year." I'll be back next week with a race report!

St Croix Valley Sprint Triathlon Race Report

2011-09-11T13:01:00.004-05:00

Henry's asleep in his bunny swing, so I'm going to try to make this quick before he wakes up again. My first week back was a very tiring one. Henry has decided that he doesn't love eating at daycare and would rather get up a few extra times during the night to make up for all of those lost feedings. We've been up 3-5 times most nights this week. Thank God it was only a 4 day week. I guess this week will be the real test. Speaking of Henry, as if I don't talk about him enough around here lately, I think his demeanor is getting better. This is giving me hope that he's a 3 month colicky baby and not a 6 month colicky baby. I really can't thank you all enough for the massive amount of support, suggestions, thoughts, and prayers you've offered me the last few months. I REALLY needed it, and you came through. We still haven't figured out his intestinal issues other than the fact that he most likely has allergic proctocolitis. I went off dairy again this week, but I'm not convinced it's dairy. Next on the list is soy and then eggs, so if it doesn't get better, that's where we're headed. After the LC told us that it was ridiculous to be cutting out so many foods and that she didn't think it was an allergy, she called back 4 days later to say that she thinks it's most likely an allergy. Thankfully, most kids grow out of it around 12-18 months or even earlier, but I still want to nip it now so his poor insides aren't so irritated.

OK - enough about that. You came here for a race report. This was the first postpartum race I'd done. We've gone to cheer on Steve at a couple of them this summer, but this was my turn. We layed out and packed as much stuff as we could the night before. I made a list of everything we needed to grab the morning of - diaper bag, my tri bag, my breast pump for the car ride, our baby, etc. The BOB and my bike were already packed up. Henry woke up twice during the night, including one feeding that lasted an ENTIRE hour. He's never eaten that much in his life. Guess he thought he was gearing up for a race, too! Our alarm went off, and we quickly busied ourselves packing up and heading out the door. The goal was to leave around 6 so we could be there by 6:30 (transition closed at 7:15). As I was pumping on the way there, I realized that the bottle I had grabbed to put the pumped milk in had somehow not made it into the car. That's when Steve and I realized that we had managed to forget the diaper bag, too. Great. Mom of the year right here. We keep a small diaper bag in the bob, so I wasn't worried about diapers, but I felt sick knowing that I was about to leave Steve with 10 ounces of milk, a hungry baby, and no way to combine the two. We made plans for him to go to a local 24 hour Wal-Mart while I was on the bike if needed.

When we got to the park, we unloaded the car and stopped at a picnic table so I could try to feed H a little before I needed to race. He halfheartedly ate and then proceeded to throw up most of what he ate. Double great.

Emergency feeding time...

I picked up my race packet and headed into transition with baby in tow. It didn't take me long to set everything up, don my wetsuit, and stop for these photos:

Posing with Henry before the Start

Henry giving me a pep talk before the race

The swim:
I've never done a sprint tri. The shortest distance I've ever done was an oly. This was the first swim I've done where I didn't look up and think, "Holy cow, that's a really long way to swim." I said a quick prayer of thanks before my start. I really do havw a lot to be thankful for. Soon it was go time! I sighted OK, felt OK, and was out of the 1/3 mile swim in 12:14 - not great by normal standards, but I've only been in the water twice since I was 16 weeks pregnant.

All smiles coming out of the water

T1:
This took me way longer than it should have. I fumbled all over with my wetsuit, my shoes, and with the decision on weather to grab my mini bike pump. I was out in 2:16.

The bike:
I've long touted this race as a great beginner race. I did their oly a couple of years ago, and it's my PR. The sprint distances aren't intimidating, and you can stand up during almost any given part of the swim. Plus, it's at the end of the summer, allowing plenty of time to train. Steve did this race a few years ago, and it's a good thing I walked through the course with him the night before or I would have been surprise by the GIANT hill on the bike. This ride? Not beginner friendly. It's slightly uphill for the first 3 miles of the out and back and then gets really nasty. I haven't reviewed my power data yet, but at one point, I looked down at my Powertap to see I was on a 7% grade hill. People were walking. I was in my granny gear and still thought I would lose my cookies. I was WORKING! My speed was pitiful. I was so glad to hit the top (and the turn around) but then quickly became nervous on whether I would do OK handling my new bike on a descent that big. I did have to break pretty hard on one curve that they had warned us about, but otherwise I did OK. I went back and forth with Katie, a local triathlete/runner that we know. I smiled and told her she'd be getting me on the run. I finished the 10 mile bike in 38:12 - a 15.7 mph average. I have to admit that I'm disappointed with this average, but looking at the winners, all times were slow on the bike. You just never make up that speed once you've lost it on the uphill, and like I said in my last post, you can't be too hard on yourself when it's only the 4th time you've been on your bike in over 3 months. I could hear Steve cheering me on as I came into transition.

Coming in off the bike

T2:
Much smoother this time. I was in and out in 1:36.

The run:
I've been lamenting for weeks about how slow my running is coming along. The endurance has come back, but my speed just hasn't budged. I had done a 5 miler a few days prior where I averaged 11 minute miles, and I was ecstatic to see an entire minute drop from my usual min/mile pace. I was thinking that 10:30s -11:00s would be a realistic goal given my recent training times, but my body had other ideas. I took off out of T2 with a pace that I thought was comfortably fast.

Starting my run

I was relieved to discover that once I was running, barfing seemed much less inevitable. I talked with a local mom (I think her name was Tiffany) on my way to mile 1. She recognized me from my blog and offered me encouragement that cranky babies don't always stay that way. I was shocked when I hit my watch at mile 1 and saw a 9:24. I wondered if I could maintain that kind of pace. At mile 2, my watch read 9:03. Awesome. I was feeling great. I was pushing for two reasons: 1. I was racing and 2. There was a good chance that Steve had a very hungry Cranky Hank waiting for me at the finish line. I was cheering people on as I was passing them and cheering racers who were still heading toward the turnaround. I was still feeling good at mile 3 - 8:45.

Still feeling good on the run

When I passed Steve and Henry as I was running toward the finish line, I shrugged and told Steve I had no idea where this run speed came from, and that's when he snapped this priceless photo:

WHERE did this run come from?

Heading toward the finish

I had 8:53 as my last split for a total run time of 36:13 - just over 9:03 min/mile average.

I got a little teary at the finish line. I had so much fun and was so happy to be back. Total time: 1:30:29 - 4/11 in my AG and 32/89 women.

All packed up and ready for some FOOD!

I found Steve and was relieved to find that Henry had slept through most of the race - disaster averted. He actually slept through me packing up my stuff and eating the DELICIOUS post race luau pork sandwiches that they were serving.

Henry was still asleep as we loaded up the car

He made it all the way home before waking up and being ravenously hungry.

I would love to do this race again. First of all, it would serve as a good measure of improvement, but it really is a fun race. Although I've never been a lover of sprint races, I think I could really get used to doing a few of these. It's a great way for me to learn to push my limits.

One year ago today, I was smashing my PR at Rev3 Cedar Point half. Last week, I did my first postpartum sprint. It's amazing how much has changed in the past year, and I'm excited to see how the next year unfolds.

Next up on my racing calendar is the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. I felt awesome on my 18 miler yesterday and was relieved to discover that my times are coming down a bit. There were several local running groups doing 20 milers on my usual route, and it was fun to be part of that excitement. I'll hopefully get in a 20 miler next weekend and will then be headed for taper town. It's been my dream ever since signing up this year to put a sign on the BOB that says "I did this last year." You know I'll be stopping for baby kisses on my way to the finish line.

My First Postpartum Tri Race Report Coming Soon!

2011-09-05T13:49:00.003-05:00

I'm officially done with my maternity leave tomorrow, and to be very honest, I'm an emotional wreck today (as I have been for the last 3 weeks thinking about going back to work). I hope to get a race report up sometime soon to tell you all about my sprint tri yesterday, but today, I'm just going to enjoy being with my two favorite boys.

In short, it went WAY better than I expected. Nothing stellar, but just being out there 12 weeks to the day after giving birth is something to be pretty thankful for. The swim went about as good as it could have. The bike wasn't what I'd hoped it would be, but I forgot about the HUGE hill basically comprising the entire bike, so for having been on my bike all of 4 times now since May, I'll have to be happy with it. I pulled the run out of somewhere, and if I can find out where that was, I'll have to go looking for more. I went about 2 minutes faster/mile than what I was thinking it'd be. That could have something to do with a major mommy mishap in packing that left us with a potentially hungry baby at the finish line. Thankfully, Henry cooperated during the race!

Most importantly, I had a smile on my face the whole Day. I had SO much fun and can't wait for next year!

Stopping for a photo with Henry before the start

Out on the run

Happy Labor Day, everybody!

My CD0.1's Maiden Voyage

2011-08-30T20:38:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday, I decided it was time. I had this sweet new ride calling my name, and I was SO eager to take it out, despite previously described apprehension being 11 weeks postpartum. I dug through my drawer to find a pair of bike shorts that fit me, handed Henry off to Steve, and set out for a quick spin to try everything out. I hadn't been on a bike since May and haven't been able to ride outdoors Since mid-October last year.
Henry and I posed for this pic before I set out:

Henry likes the new ride. Mama likes it more!

It. Was. Glorious.

I only went for 15 miles or so, but I felt great. This bike is crazy fast, and though I was a little nervous that it would take a lot of time to get to know my R2C shifters, it seemed to click pretty fast. My average wasn't spectacular, but given my time away from the bike, it really wasn't that bad, especially considering the number of stop signs I hit.

I felt like me again riding. Although my running is progressing, my times aren't really coming down. I still feel slow and heavy, but on my bike, I felt like an athlete, like a person, not just a mommy milk machine.

I got home with a big smile on my face, and Steve snapped this photo:

Home after a quick fun ride.

I squeezed in another ride on Saturday. Same thing. I felt great, and with that, I signed up for my first and only tri of the season - the St. Croix Valley Sprint Tri.

I have been in the pool twice since Henry's birth, but my swims went OK. I've lost a lot of speed, which I'm hoping to get back once H is not so cranky that he can't go to Kid's Care at our Y. I'm confident I'll be fine in the 1/3 mile swim. The bike is only 10 miles, and the run is 4 miles. It will be my first ever sprint tri, and although it will no doubt be embarrassingly slow, I have to keep telling myself that I gave birth 12 weeks ago and need to cut myself a little slack. I am really hoping to focus on getting my speed back over the winter to see what I can do in shorter distances next year, and this will be a great starting point.

On the running front, I've been increasing my mileage pretty successfully. I logged nearly 30 miles last week with my long run being a 16 miler. My speed just isn't coming back as fast as I'd hoped, but now that I've been able to get back some of the distance, I hope to incorporate some speed work back into my regimen before my marathon in a month. The race this weekend will serve as my "recovery" day. Next weekend I'll put in an 18 miler. The following week I'll shoot for 20, and then I'll taper for 2 weeks and see if I can hit the finish line in the 6 hour time limit on October 2. I'm really hoping that being at the back of the pack will allow me to meet some new people who need a little encouragement. I thrive on getting people excited out there. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the TCM course and will show it off whenever I can.

On the Henry front, things aren't going much better, which makes me really nervous to send him to be with someone else when I start work next week. I mean, if his own mother has trouble settling him down some days, how is a stranger supposed to do it? Fortunately, we have a neighbor caring for him. She has 2 kids of her own, and one of them was a crabby baby. We had a 2 hour trial the other day, and it went really well. He was sleeping when I got there to pick him up. By the end of last week, he was extra crabby. I had cut out ALL dairy for over 2 weeks at that point (save for one day when I had a moment of weakness and ate a cookie with butter in it), but it really didn't seem to help his disposition. We thought it was helping his intestinal issues, but he had another bloody poo on Saturday, so we're back to square one. I ended up cutting out all wheat, soy, and eggs for the last few days, but the LC today told me to forget about it. It's been a really frustrating process. We've seen 2 doctors, a lactation consultant, a Douala (the teacher for our birthing class series where we had a reunion yesterday) and a chiropractor within the last 2.5 weeks, and all of these "experts" think that they know the cure-all and are contradicting the information that the other ones are giving us. By this afternoon, I was really ready to call it quits on all of them. I know that the real "cure" for colicky babies is usually just time, but it's so hard to watch your baby scream and not do anything. I would feel terrible if there were really something wrong, and we just ignored the signs. Then, as if to tell me everything would be just fine, I figured out how to make him giggle today, and that was worth all of the frustration I'd had in the morning.

My last race was one week before Henry was born. My next one will be 12 weeks afterward. I think it's going to be a pretty surreal experience having him at the finish line. Wish me luck!

Spilling the Beans - Big Evotri Bike Announcement

2011-08-22T21:35:00.002-05:00

I have been a member of Evotri since last summer. With the help of the super sweet gear from our sponsors, I was able to post a HUGE PR at Rev3 half last September. Shortly after that, I got pregnant with Henry, and racing has been on major hold. The thing is, the gear I was using (my Zipp wheels and Cyclops Powertap) was only a small portion of the things I received as part of the team. I had a box of SUPER sweet components sitting in my basement waiting for a bike worthy of them. Two weeks ago, I got this in the mail...

Um, yeah. This definitely looks worthy.

Presenting, my Quintana Roo CD0.1 I almost fell over when I realized I could lift the frame with two fingers...

We took all of my boxes of parts out to Gear West Bike and Tri, our local tri mecca. They are a bit of a drive for us but totally worth it. We have so many bike shops within a couple of miles of us, but none of them have the level of expertise of Gear West while maintaining the feeling of a small shop. I just prefer a shop where I know their names and they know mine...

Lots and lots of parts ready to be put together. Good thing somebody knows how to do this!

A few days later, we went back to pick up my new beauty. It's a good thing I never had bladder issues after having a baby, because I almost peed myself when I saw my new bike. I still can't believe this is mine. They did a really quick fitting so they could cut my aerobars down and string the cables, and Steve snapped this picture.

All smiles while trying out the new ride

I'll go back for a more thorough fitting once I don't have a 10 pound tire around my midsection and have regained some of my flexibility - hopefully this winter.

While I was getting fitted, Henry sat by the Quintana Roos on display there. He definitely approves of their products!

Henry's content face. He likes Mama's new toy :)

So I'll be saying goodbye to my current tri bike - a QR Tequilo that I've had since 2007. It has treated me really well, which is a big reason I'm excited that we're going to be working with Quintana Roo. I love that it's a small company with a triathlon focus. It's right in line with our Evotri mission.

I have been really slow to get back on my bike postpartum. Apparently prolapsing your urethra on top of all of the other damage that results to your lady business after 36 hours of labor will do that. I'm thinking this will be just the incentive I need to get out and enjoy a few rides before winter hits. Oh, and I'm still considering squeezing in a very short tri in a couple of weeks.

I am already starting to look at potential races for next year. I'm really thinking that it's time to focus on shorter races and trying to bring down my times. I can't wait to see what I can do with my CD0.1.

Marathon Training New Mommy Style

2011-08-12T10:13:00.002-05:00

Nine seems to be the theme of the week...

Nine was my long run on Sunday. My plan was to run the first 5 with the BOB and then circle around home to drop off Henry and finish the last 4 miles solo. We didn't get started until after 7 PM, and it took Steve a little coaxing to get me out the door - I was tired and knew that nine miles would take me close to 2 hours given my current slow pace. Henry was having his evening crabbies, as usual, but he passed out cold in the stroller before I could even make it 2 blocks. He was so passed out and content that I actually contemplated trying to take him the whole way, but my sore groin muscles were screaming by 3 miles, and I knew it would be stupid to do all 9 with the stroller. The BOB is SUPER easy to push and doesn't really feel like I'm adding another 40-50 pounds to my run, but I know it alters my stride a little, and I'm trying to avoid injury since I'm already pushing the milage uppage 10% rule. I tacked on an extra mile to make my "with stroller" run portion 6 miles to give Steve a few more minutes at home and then ran the last 3 by myself. By the end, I was pooped but felt OK except for the groin issues. I'm aiming for 11 as my long run this week. I've still got my eyes on the Oct 2 marathon. I also squeezed in a 5 mile run Tuesday (with the stroller) and 2 runs yesterday - 4.4 miles and 3.6 miles. Henry had his 2 month checkup, which meant shots and an extra sad, crabby baby. Between Steve's long run in the morning and my runs in the afternoon and evening, he logged around 18 miles in the stroller for the day. Man does he love that thing! He either sleeps in it or is very awake and content, so Steve and I both try to take him whenever we can to give the other one a break.

His "I'm looking around but am content" face

Nine is the number of weeks pospartum I'll be in 2 days. I am still surprised how long it takes to heal after giving birth. I got the all clear to go swimming at my MD visit last week, and I did get in a 1 miler. It was slow but actually felt pretty good. I'm hoping to get in a few more swims before our pool closes for maintenence in two weeks. I've been toying with hopping on my bike for a couple of weeks now. My lady parts are still healing up, but I do want to at least try a short ride. Biking is about to get WAY more exciting around here, too. Big Evotri announcement coming soon!

Nine is the number of ounces Henry gained over the 9 days between his doctor visits. He's now up to 11 pounds 6 oz - right in the 50% for weight, though he's quite below average for height - that's my chubby baby! We took him in last week to discuss starting reflux medication for him. Feedings were getting pretty traumatic, and although it has helped a little, it wasn't a magic bullet. We really didn't think it would be. Henry's doctor agreed that he fits the definition of colic to a T. We're going to keep the reflux medication for now. Since he's also having some other concerning GI symptoms, I'm also going to try going dairy free for a week or two to see if it helps. Dairy and soy tend to be the most likely offenders, but if that doesn't work, we'll have to keep trying to pin down the culprit.

Nine is also the number of pounds I have to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy non-super fit weight. I was down to 139 when I got pregnant, but my usual wt is closer to 143. My goal is to be below 150 before going back to work in just over 3 weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Finally, here is a two month picture of Henry, just a couple of days short of nine weeks:

Happy little guy on his changing table, courtesy of Steve :)

A Week By the Numbers

2011-07-31T18:52:00.002-05:00

Last week, I hit the six week post-partum mark. Normally, that would mean a trip to the doctor to get the all clear, but vacation with Steve's family this past week interfered with scheduling that appointment, so I'm going tomorrow. It will be nice to get into the water again. Not being able to swim is something I forgot about when I was excited to have a summer baby. Though I'm not excited to squeeze into my swim suit (currently I resemble something similar to an overstuffed sausage when I try), I am excited to actually take advantage of all of that hot weather we've been having. Pool parties and trips to the lake really aren't as fun when you've not allowed to swim. That's not to say that I'm excited to be able to swim laps again; I haven't been in the pool since I was 16 weeks pregnant. I'm afraid it's going to be a laughable event when I hop in the pool at the Y, but I've been able to at least look at my bike in the last week and am wondering if I can squeeze in a short tri before the season is over.

Running is going better. I had been run/walk alternating a few weeks ago, and I'm feeling less and less like my insides are going to fall out. I went on my first run sans stroller two weeks ago at the 5 week mark. It was crazy hot here, but I was so happy to get out that I didn't even care. My 3.5 miles were slow, but most of me felt good. I think my lower abs/upper groin atrophied quite a bit. I got in another 3.8 miler a week and a half ago. Last Sunday, at my 6 week mark, I managed to make it 5.2 miles. It felt like the last few miles of a half Ironman run. I'm a little surprised that even though I'm 25 pounds lighter than my delivery weight, my times aren't that much better. I'm still doing around 12 minute miles. I know I need to be careful how I come back. postpartum women are at increased risk for stress fractures, especially in the pelvis. I've been wearing my SI belt on my runs to help stabilize my pelvis. Hanging over my head is the fact that I signed up for the marathon again this year. I told myself when I signed up that there was no pressure to actually do it, but if I was feeling up to it, I'd love to keep the streak alive. This year would make 12 Twin Cities Marathons in a row. Well, I'm not very good about not putting pressure on myself, and I think I'm going to at least try ramping up my miles and see how I feel. The marathon is 9 weeks away. The rest of my family is signed up for the 10 mile, so it'll be a really fun weekend. Right now, my plan is to run 3 days per week dn build my endurance through lots of cross training - elliptical machine, biking, rollarblading, and swimming - anything low impact. I did get ina long rollarblading session when Steve and I were on vacation earlier this week. My in-laws volunteered to watch Henry for a couple of hours, and while Steve biked, I strapped on my blades. I covered just over 19 miles in around 1:50 and felt great.

On the Henry front, things are going...okay. He's a pretty high-maintenance baby. He's generally fussy and requires nearly constant holding or rocking or bouncing. For some reason, he LOVES to bounce. My biceps may be the first muscles I get back. A lady at LTF triathlon told me her grandbaby loved the balance ball, and that was an amazing tip. Though he doesn't technically fit the colic definition, he's close. He's crabby to the point that his auntie Steph bough him socks with crabs on them. He still loves his stroller, being outside, baths, and being naked (he is Steve's son after all). He's started smiling and talking more the past couple of weeks, which makes the crabbiness so much more bearable. Once in a while, I get a huge smile...

Update: I just finished up a 7 miler a couple of hours ago. It was rough, but it didn't feel much worse than my 5 miler last week. When I got home, I saw that our heat index is 102. Hopefully that had something to do with feeling so sluggish and slow...

Race Week!

2011-07-07T16:53:00.002-05:00

Don't get any ideas that I've gone totally bonkers. It's not a race week for me, although I have been feeling a bit left out sitting on the sidelines the past couple of months. My 5K at the beginning of June helped take the edge off, but it wasn't a "real" race. I haven't had a real race since Sept of last year at Rev3 half. All of my races since then have been just for fun at a pretty easy effort. If I can ever look at my bike again, I may still try to squeeze something in yet this year. Who knows...

In the meantime, I am SUPER excited to welcome my Evotri teammates to town tomorrow to race the Minneapolis Triathlon on Saturday. I am excited for a couple of reasons. First of all, I haven't seen my Evotri peeps since last September. This year was the first year I missed WIBA. I have been there every year since it started in 2006. I was SO sad that weekend and really missed being out there, meeting new faces, and seeing old faces again. I am excited to introduce my team to Henry, and I'm excited to show off Minneapolis and St. Paul. I am very proud of the amazing multisport community we have here. I am also excited to be able to share this triathlon with them. This was my first tri ever back in 2004, and it's the only race I've ever done where the excitement and energy around it even comes close to what you can feel at an Ironman. Steve is signed up for the sprint, so Henry and I will have a lot of cheering to do!

Thanks again, everybody for your support on my last post. I know I'll feel better eventually. A lot of people ask how I'm feeling lately. My answer is always, "Oh, well, OK, I guess... considering..." How I'm really feeling? Tired, sore, and chunky. I think when those first 20+ pounds basically fell off, I was a little optimistic on how soon the rest of the weight would come off, especially since, as my mom lovingly puts it, I could basically be the wet nurse for the whole block. I know it will take work to see the rest of it come off, and I know that I need to be patient with myself. I'm still not even a month postpartum! At least the sore part is getting better. I'm still a little sore, but it's getting more bearable, and when I attempted to run a little this week, I felt a lot less like my insides were going to fall out.

On the workout front, Henry and I have gotten in a walk every day this week. It makes me feel SO much better, and he loves to sleep in his car seat. On Monday, we walked 4.5 miles (to Herberger's and back) to make a quick return. I ran the last 1/2 mile home just to see if I could, and it went OK.

Henry slept through the whole thing, as usual

On Tuesday, we met up with my (formerly) fellow preggo running partner. It was fun to meet her beautiful daughter, Zanna. Our conversation has shifted from being anxious to meet our babies to how we're dealing with being new parents. I just LOVE hanging out with her - time flies when we start talking! Here's a photo of Henry and Zanna "meeting" for the first time:

They've been running together since before they were born!

Yesterday, I suggested to Steve that he could get in an OWS and I could walk around lake Nokomis with Mr. Henry, so that's what we did. I walked just under 3 miles. I didn't get adventurous enough to try running again. I was feeling a little sore.

Post walk, rocking the BOB, a smile, and a baby pooch

Today, Henry and I walked to the bank and back - around 5 miles round trip. After the first mile, I decided to try walk/run intervals. I ran 2 minutes then walked 5. By the end of the trip, I was running 3 and walking 4. I actually felt pretty good on the run intervals, and I had to force myself to stop for the walk breaks to keep it pretty easy. Henry slept the whole time. He loves his carseat, and I love the BOB.
In total, I probably got in 25-30 minutes of running. I'll consider that a success. I can tell I'm using muscles that haven't been used in a while, especially in my lower abs and groin. By the end of my preggo running, I was barely lifting my legs when I ran - my belly was in the way. It'll take a while to get used to running with normal form again.

I'll have to post photos of our race weekend festivities. I'm sure I'll end up taking a lot. Happy weekend, everybody!

My Brother Lost the Bet

2011-06-30T13:42:00.003-05:00

My brother Matt and his girlfriend Angela were over last night. Matt admitted that he would have placed money on the fact that I'd be running 3-5 miles two weeks postpartum. Honestly, a month ago, I would have too. I mean, I ran 4.5 miles the morning of the day my water broke, I managed to avoid a C-section, and the rest of my body (and my brain) are ready to go. My nether regions? Not so much. Local rock star Kortney Haag stopped over yesterday with her two boys and an amazing lunch. She said that the first time she tried to run after giving birth, she felt like her insides were going to fall out. I was so relieved to hear this because that's EXACTLY how I felt yesterday on my walk when I had to run to beat a changing light. It's a little disconcerting.

Thank you all SO MUCH for your advice and encouragement on my last post. Unfortunately, not much has changed on the breastfeeding front. It is getting a little easier, but I wouldn't classify it as "easy" by any means. Henry still doesn't have a great sleeping schedule, and he rarely goes a full 3 hours between feedings. That meant that he was up every 1.5-2 hours last night, and I woke up feeling exhausted. I had hoped to get out for a walk before the 100 degree temps rolled in, but at 8 AM, all I could think about was trying to get in a nap.

We have been a lot better about getting out of the house, though, and I know that's been helping to relieve the cooped up feeling that has been creeping in. Henry LOVES the stroller. He passes out in it every time. Right now, I would rank it at the top as far as "good investments" that we made before he was born. Seriously. The BOB is worth its weight in gold. Other great investments: the Simple Wishes hands free pumping bra. You cannot underestimate the value of having 2 free hands during those 10 minutes. Also, a good baby carrier... I bought the Baby K'tan a few weeks before Henry was born. He's just now big enough to go in it, although his head control is really good, so I probably could have tried it earlier. He was crabby for much of the morning. Once I strapped him in it, he fell right asleep. I've had 2 hours of a content, sleeping baby.

We got out for a 1+ mile walk yesterday with the BOB and a 2.5 mile walk the day before. I love living in St. Paul and being able to make it a goal to walk to get a few errands done. Tuesday's walk was to our local pharmacy. The pharmacist told me I in no way look like I gave birth 2 weeks ago. (It's a good thing we don't operate on tips - I would have had to give her a big one!) Though I still feel like I did, it's amazing how big of a difference putting on real clothes and getting out of the house makes! I'm hoping we can get in another good walk tomorrow once the heat subsides a little. I'm still sore afterward, but icing really seems to help.

Well, back to another feeding. Happy 4th of July weekend, everybody!

Slowly But Surely, With Emphasis on the Slowly...

2011-06-24T13:09:00.004-05:00

Things are progressing slowly around here. Henry and I are figuring each other out more and more each day, and I'm starting to feel a little more independent with what he wants/needs. Steve has been a HUGE help - feeding me when need be and taking on diaper duty for many of the daytime hours so I can at least make a trip to the bathroom once in a while. I am SO glad that he's on a summer schedule and can be home a little more often. Steve and I have both wondered multiple times in the last week how people do this with more than one kid. Seriously, moms of multiples, you have my utmost respect and admiration.

Endurance wise, I'm feeling good. I don't get too tired working around the house and going up and down the stairs multiple times. Steve and I got out for a 2.5 mile walk Wednesday, and it felt SO good to just get out of the house.

Out on our first long walk!

Somebody likes the carseat and the stroller :)

My legs, back, etc all felt OK. The rate limiting step seems to be my lady business. I think I grossly underestimated how long it would take everything to heal after 36 hours of labor, 3.5 hours of pushing, and some repair work. Between that and BFing, showers have been... interesting.

At least once a day on most days, I describe myself as bruised - just overall sore. I actually am bruised still on my forearm where they tried to place my IV for the first time. Nearly 2 weeks later, the huge hematoma is still a variety of ugly yellow and brown colors.

I'm trying to cut myself some slack. I don't take to sitting still for very long, so the last 2 weeks have been a pretty big adjustment in that department. I know I just need to listen to my body to know when I'm ready for more intense activity. A big part of all of this is how hard it is to leave the house. You know the difference between running and biking, how much more prep-work is involved to get out on your bike (pumping tires, emergency kit ready, water bottles, helmet, etc, etc vs just running clothes and shoes)? Well, multiply that by about 20 and you have what it's like to leave the house with a newborn even if it's just to be gone for 30 minutes. Sometimes it's just easier to stay inside. The fact that the weather has been so cool and crappy has definitely made this easier. I know that with a little more practice, though, I'll be more confident at leaving the house, and I really NEED to. It's just not good for me mentally for me to feel so cooped up.

On the weight-loss front, the first 2 weeks have been pretty dramatic. I am down 22 of the 42 pounds I gained. I know most of this is baby and excess fluid, but it's somewhat reassuring. I'm definitely not dieting right now as it can be detrimental to your milk supply and it's really the last thing I should be thinking about. I know the rest of the weight will come off MUCH more slowly, but it's still comforting. It's funny how much less I feel compelled to eat lately. I would say I'm back to my pre-pregnancy appetite - plenty considering I'm not as active as I was. However, I was SO HUNGRY ALL OF THE TIME when I was pregnant that it seems like I don't eat at all anymore (think 2000+ vs 3000+ calories per day).

Henry is up 4 ounces from his birth wt and 5 ounces since Monday, so I must be doing something right!

Well, my little man is waking up again - time for another round of feeding. Happy Friday, everyone! And now, I leave you with a couple of bathtime photos:

Henry's first "real" bath since his belly button fell off

Yummy big hands!

Henry's Birth Story

2011-06-19T19:09:00.008-05:00

First of all, thanks everyone for your kind words and congratulations. As you probably all know by now (especially if you read Steve's blog), Henry was born one week ago today. After feeling like he'd NEVER come, we have had quite the week welcoming him into our lives. I love him more and more each day. Though I'm definitely still tired and sore, I'm looking forward to getting out of the house more this next week. Steve and I went for a 45 minute walk with him on Friday. It felt SO good to just get moving and actually see sunlight, even though I was a little pooped at the end.

I thought I had a boy baking in the oven since the moment I found out I was pregnant, so I think it's pretty funny that that's how he came out. In retrospect, I'm glad he was a "surprise."

I have found it really interesting and helpful to read other people's stories regarding the birth of their children in the past. It always amazes me how very different people's experiences are. If you don't want to read a long, potentially TMI story, come back later and just skip this post :)

Something told me before my run on June 10 that it could be my last for a while. Call it instinct or just knowing that the timing was getting close, but it was in fact my last run with baby Henry in my belly...

My water broke at 11 PM Friday night. At first, I didn't even think that's what happened. He was kicking all over the place, and suddenly I felt a very small "pop" and a little gush of fluid. I jumped out of bed and told Steve my water broke. I went to the bathroom and decided that all of that baby twitching must have just caused me to lose bladder control, even though that had never happened to me. I sheepishly informed him it was a false alarm. Then at around 2 AM, I lost another small amount of fluid and started to think that maybe it had broken after all. I tried not to wake Steve. I called into the hospital, and they said that since I wasn't having much in the way of contractions, I should give it an hour or 3 before coming in.

I woke Steve up a little after 3 so we could get a few things lined up in case this was the real deal. We got to the hospital around 5:30. By then, I still wasn't sure my water had broken at all. When they did the exam, they were just as confused as me and wanted to keep me a few more hours for observation. As we sat in the triage unit, a physician and a nurse both came in to inform us that even if my water hadn't broken, we wouldn't be going home. Henry had an episode of bradycardia (low heart rate) that was significant enough to worry them that he was in distress. At 8 AM, they repeated the exam but found that it most definitely HAD broken, so now we were on a time frame. Usually they'll only let you go 24 hours after it breaks. Since I really wasn't dilated at all (I was at a 1 and 50% effaced - women walk around for WEEKS more progressed than that) and was not having a lot of contractions, they started me on pitocin, which Henry it seems did not like. He had a two more episodes of his heart rate dropping to the point of doctors and nurses rushing into my room and doing all sorts of interventions to make it come back up. At 2 PM, my MD told me that he had broken her 3 strikes rule and I would probably need a C section. They decided to see what my body could do on it's own and gave me a 7 PM deadline to "make progress". I tried all sorts of different positions, walking, etc. Just before 7, my contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting about a minute each.

Stopping for a contraction

I was getting pretty pooped by then. When they checked me at 7, they said I had made significant progress. I was now dilated to 2 and much more effaced. After all of that work, I didn't feel like that was much to brag about. They gave me an 11 PM deadline and some Nubain, which made me feel a little drugged but let me get a little rest between the contractions. At 11, I was dilated to a 3, and they were OK with that progress. At that point, I had been "in labor" (sort of) nearly 24 hours and had been awake for 40+ hours save three brief hours Fri night.

I had hoped to be as drug-free as possible throughout labor, but it was decision time. I decided to get an epidural, try to sleep a little, and see if numbing me would help my body stop fighting the pain and actually let me make progress. I had spent the last 9 months using all sorts of muscles to keep him supported during my runs and throughout the rest of my day. They were working against me. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd need either an epidural, spinal anesthesia, or (if he had a REALLY scary bradycardia episode) general anesthesia for a C section anyway. It was the best decision I made. I slept off and on for 5 hours, and when the checked me at 5 AM, I was dilated to a 7. I have no doubt in my mind that without the epidural, it wouldn't have happened. By 6:45 Sunday morning, I was fully dilated, but he was still pretty high up and they wanted to see if he'd come down with the contractions without me having to push him down. We started pushing at 7:45. He hadn't come down much on his own, so I had to push him down. At first, the pushing was actually pretty easy. My contractions were pretty sporadic - sometimes 10 minutes apart, sometimes 2. I was so relieved that I wasn't heading to a C section for the moment that I was actually joking around (I am very sure the epidural helped).

They say that one disadvantage of having an epidural is that you can't push effectively, but I could still tell when a contraction was coming, and they kept telling me how great my pushes were. We had one more REALLY scary bradycardic spell that lasted several minutes where they called in extra nurses and the NICU team, but we got him recovered. I was SO hot in there. Even though I was wearing nothing but a sports bra, Steve was putting icy wash cloths ALL over me. The room wasn't warm, but I was WORKING. I never thought that I couldn't keep going. I knew I had to. I was just so worried that Henry would have another scary episode. At the end, they kept asking if I wanted to feel his head, but I just wanted to focus on recovering between contractions so that I would have enough energy to keep up effective pushing. I pushed for 3.5 hours total, but eventually, he was out! Steve got to announce that we had a boy. They plopped him on my chest, and I felt something splash me in the face. I didn't think much of it until later when they explained that when Steve cut the umbilical cord, blood flew EVERYWHERE. He even covered the walls with it.

Our family right after his birth. You can see blood on my face and on the pillow...

Henry was 7 pounds, 6.2 ounces, and 20 inches long. Oh, and we think he's pretty cute :)

I held Henry in my arms for a long time and knew I'd never be the same.

The day we were discharged from the hospital

Steve was AMAZING throughout the whole process. I couldn't ask for a better daddy for our son. Happy Father's Day, Honey!

We were also very fortunate to have my mom in the delivery room with us. She's an OB nurse by trade, and having her love, support, and expertise there was SO helpful, especially during some of the scary episodes. We love you, Mom (Grandma)!

My AWESOME Mom

We got to bring Henry home Tuesday evening. The Script's "For the First Time" played on the radio: Even after all these years we just now got the feeling that we're meeting for the first time. I welled up for the zillionth time of the week.

The rest of the week has been a roller-coaster of emotions, mostly happy, although breastfeeding is SO not fun right now, and that has caused a few sad/pained tears. Everyone reassures me it does get better. In the meantime, this keeps me motivated:

We think we'll keep him :)

The Big 4-0

2011-06-10T19:52:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is my due date - I've officially hit 40 weeks! And the way things are going, it doesn't look like I'll be "doing" anything but cheering Steve on at his Oly tri, where it likely won't hit 60 degrees before he finishes. Yikes that'll be a chilly one, and I thought last year in the cold rain was hypothermia inducing... I've been sitting on the fence as to whether I'd come out to watch the race. I know it's good for me to get out of the house, but I do get tired pretty easily these days. As long as he's OK with me being a party pooper and not wanting to stick around for hours afterward if I'm tired, I'm still considering tagging along. Right now, I'm feeling OK. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

So... this week in review: Monday I got to work and decided I was just over being pregnant. They had officially moved me to project time, and things were a little slow while the projects rolled in. I watched the clock a lot until my doctor's appointment where we didn't really get any new news. My MD doesn't do internal exams until 40 weeks, so in the way of "progress," I have no idea where we're sitting. Aside from lots of pelvic pressure and Braxton Hicks contractions, I don't have much to go on.

I somehow missed the memo that it was going to be HOT at the beginning of the week. I was paying attention to the end of the week forecast for Steve's race, but I missed Mon and Tues. When I stepped outside in my corduroy pants Monday, I thought I was going to melt. No wonder it had been so hot and sticky in our office all day! A 95 degree day for an overdressed non-acclimated pregnant woman is pretty miserable.

I had so much fun running the 5K with Abbe on Sunday, and Monday morning, I realized I didn't have any more "fun" activities planned. There are still plenty of things on my "to-do" list, but it's mostly non-essential filler at this point. I took a step back Monday morning and realized that maybe I just need to relax a little. Being revved up all of the time probably isn't encouraging labor, so I scheduled a message for myself. I was honestly hoping it would send me straight into labor like they have for many women I know, but I figured if nothing else, it would help me to relax. Though it did relax me, no baby results.

Tuesday we hit a 23 year high temperature of 103 degrees. I think I heard it was the 4th hottest day on record here. Abbe and I were going to go for a very easy walk, but she finally went into labor, so I just went to the Y where it was still very hot and hopped on the recumbent bike for a little while. I talked to my mom that night who basically told me I just need to stop working out for the next week. Of course, she's been trying to get me to slow down throughout this whole pregnancy, so I wasn't surprised. In keeping with the theme of trying to relax, though, I thought I'd give it a try.

Wednesday I was a wreck. My preggo coworker was being induced, my running partner had her baby, and I was getting pretty anxious to meet my own kiddo. I felt... well, to be honest, I felt lonely. It seemed like I was out on a race course where all of my friends had finished and were off celebrating with their families. I on the other hand, had quite a ways to go and didn't know exactly where the finish line is. Yes there are still other preggos out here with me, but many started a wave or two behind me, and somehow that doesn't make me feel any better. I don't necessarily have a ton of energy for huge social outings at this point, and I know my family is getting just as impatient as I am as they're waiting anxiously at the finish line.

Yesterday, I decided I'd get a pedicure after work. Steve had gotten me a gift certificate for Mother's Day, and this seemed like a great time to use it. After my pedi (which left me really relaxed and with super cute toes), I went to the mall to do a little shopping - a gift card for my Goddaughter's birthday, a Father's Day present for my dad, and a robe for me for the hospital. When I got home, though, I didn't feel any better. I just still didn't feel like myself emotionally.

I hadn't slept well Wed night and had woken up at 4 AM unable to go back to sleep. I had contemplated getting up and just going for a run or a walk but just laid in bed instead. Planning ahead, I laid out my running clothes last night just in case I had the same issue this morning. I was able to sleep until 4:45 but was wide awake again. I heard the rain outside, but after a few minutes, I knew I had to give it a try. I was out the door just after daybreak, and it was GLORIOUS. It was cool and just lightly sprinkling, and though my times have now slowed to something resembling 13 minute miles, I felt great. I planned to try for 3-3.5 miles, but at the 1.75 mile mark, I decided to keep going. It was at that stoplight that I caught the eye of a group of 6 runners who were also waiting.

One guy took a look at my belly and asked, "You're not going into labor in the next 1-2 hours, are you?"

I gave him a big smile and told him, "Hopefully! I'm due tomorrow!"

They all smiled and one of the women in the group piped in, "I've been there!" They wished me well and took off as the light changed.

In total, I ran 4.5 miles. With the 5 minute walk at the end, I was back at my front door in just under 60 minutes with a whole new outlook. I felt like myself again. Yes it's getting harder to run. My feet ache a little when I'm out there. My SI joint feels achy when I'm done - sort of how my knees and hips feel after a long run when I'm not pregnant. My BH contractions usually ramp up after a run, too, although these days I welcome them since it feels like I'm making some sort of progress. The pelvic pressure I feel normally increases after my runs. I can't imagine it's easy for those parts to hold in a 7-8 pound baby anymore. I remember a 5 miler at 35 weeks, though, when I thought I can do this for 2 more weeks. I can't do this for 7 more. Today, I still feel like I can do this for 2 more weeks if I have to. I have learned over and over again throughout this whole journey that any physical discomfort I experience lugging all of these extra pounds through a workout is FAR outweighed by the emotional benefits of continuing to stay active. Plus, baby really enjoyed our post-workout protein, yogurt, and fruit smoothie :)

I got to work feeling great. I have been so lucky to be on projects this week. After Monday's slow day, they gave me plenty to work on knowing that I may or may not be able to finish it, so it's pretty low pressure. I am hitting my PTO max, so I've been shaving a little time off of each day to avoid losing hours. I've been able to come in and leave at flexible times, and I haven't had to be on my feet a lot. Plus, it has kept my mind busy.

I owe you a 40 week picture. We'll have to take one tomorrow.

Grand Old Day on the Go 5K Race Report - 39 Weeks Pregnant

2011-06-05T20:51:00.004-05:00

When Abigalius and I were on our weekly run on Tuesday, I told her of my plan to run the 5K this weekend if the munchkin hadn't shown up by then. It was a pretty cheap event ($20), and pre-registration was good up until the day before the race. Looking at past results for the run/walk, I confirmed that it is a pretty low-key race - no biggie if we needed to stop and walk for a bit. I knew I could wait a couple of days to sign up, and if I lost my twenty bucks at the last minute, I'd be happy about it. If nothing else, it would give me something to look forward to this weekend. Abbe got the green light from her husband, so we both signed up. We thought it could be fun to put our due dates on our backs. Everybody asks these days anyway!

Steve and I got to the race a little early and found Abbe, Micah, and their dog Gus on our walk to the start line. We stopped at the porta potty, posed for a few pictures, and watched the kids races.

Our homemade signs to answer a couple of questions

Mamas and babies ready to run!

There were kids, dogs, strollers, and families EVERYWHERE! It was so nice to finally have a beautiful weekend after the crazy spring weather we've been having, and you could tell everyone was happy to be out.

After all of the kids came in, we lined up at the starting line and snapped this photo:

Appropriately lined up next to the kids and the strollers...

Then it was time to GO! Abbe and I have been running together for a few months now, but we've never done a race together. I told her before we started that I was still just out to have a good time. I know she's a little faster than me, and I wanted to let her know that I didn't have any expectations that we needed to stay together if she wanted to run a bit faster. We both decided to just play it by ear.

Getting started next to the mini doughnuts

Right off the bat, we were getting a TON of comments about the signs on our backs and our very pregnant bellies. We got a lot of "Go Mamas!" and other fun cheers. One guy asked Abbe if today really was her due date. He then went on to offer that he's a doctor and asked her if she's dilated (uh, too far maybe?). We just joked that we probably wouldn't be needing his services on our run. :)

We hit the first mile in 11:10 - a little faster than our normal pace but still comfortable.

Having a fun run

Crossing the Ayd Mill bridge - a great belly shot

Mostly we just ran and talked and waved to the people cheering. The streets were lined with vendors getting ready for the day's celebration. I remember feeling really nauseated by all of the food smells a couple of years ago when I was racing hard, but to a pregnant lady on an easy run, doughnuts and other horrible for you food smells delicious. Good thing Steve and I only brought enough cash to indulge in a post-run bubble tea...

More food, strollers, and runners

I grabbed some water when we hit the turn around. The sun was starting to heat everything up. I drank some and poured the rest down my back. We haven't had many 80+ degree days here yet this spring. I was getting a little warm but definitely not overheated.

We hit our second mile in 11:17 - just fine with both of us. One guy pushing a double BOB passed us and told us we'd be in those shoes next year. I joked that I hoped I wouldn't be pushing a double BOB next year.

As we neared Snelling, we were heading up a small hill and decided to walk for a couple of minutes. We definitely weren't going for PRs. Once we got to the top of hill, we knew we'd have just about 0.5 miles to go. It was then that Steve overheard a small group behind us say, "We can't let the pregnant women beat us!" As the four of them passed us, one woman in the group told us that she loved seeing us out there. She said she was a few months postpartum and wished she would have been running toward the end.

Getting started again and running down the hill

We passed Micah and Gus on our way to the finish line, which seemed to sneak up on us.

Finishing with smiles on our faces

Heading to the finish line. Gus the pug is cheering his mom on (on the right)

We finished our final 1.1 miles in 14:10 for a total time of around 36:37 on my watch. (I still have to check on the official finishing time - it was chip timed).

Hopefully this is my last "race" before Baby comes. I'd really love to meet him/her soon! I guess we'll see, though, since it might be a few weeks yet and I may be out a running partner soon. It was just a fun way to get out there and be active with a few hundred other people. It was a preggo lady's dream with porta potties everywhere! It was fun to hear all of the cheers for our bellies, and we had so many moms come up and tell us that they loved seeing us out there, including a couple who were running just a couple of months postpartum.

When Steve and I got home, we grilled some food, made some banana muffins, and weeded the garden quick. Then I took a well-deserved nap. What a fun weekend!

39 Week Tidbits

2011-06-04T08:33:00.004-05:00

Well, we're here. Today marks the 39 week mark. Officially, we have one week to go. Unofficially, we may have as long as 3 weeks to go, and my MD keeps reminding me of that. Everybody keeps telling me I look great at this point. I'm taking this as a sign that labor isn't coming anytime soon. In some ways, that's OK with me since I know that everything will change instantly when the kiddo gets here. On the other hand, I know that each additional week that goes by means another 1/2 pound worth of baby that I'm going to have to push out. Yesterday was my last scheduled day of work. With the way our department is set up, we don't have sick coverage, so I'm on projects until I officially leave. I'm hoping I don't need to be on projects for too long, but the flexable schedule will be good in the next couple of weeks. So since there are no real updates, here are a few quick stories highlighting what's been going on in our household:

* Steve and I have been tackling a few last minute small projects. Last weekend we did a lot of cleaning. This weekend will involve a few touchups. The BOB and car seat attachment are together and the house is stocked with groceries. Steve and I are spending a few hours today making a few backup birthday, anniversary, etc cards. I love being married to an art teacher. It gives me an excuse to have him help me!

* A woman who is interested in pharmacy shadowed me at work a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly enough, she's also training for IM Wisconsin, so she's been picking my brain on both accounts. When she saw the TYR cinch bag under my desk, she made a comment like, "Ooh, that's cute! You still bring a TYR bag with you to work!" A little confused, I replied that I was meeting a friend for a run around the lakes after work and my running clothes were in there. She kind of stumbled over her words and then just didn't say anything. It was hard for me not to feel a little offended by her comment and a little gratified by my ability to respond :)

* My neighbor asked me two nights ago if we are sure we're not having twins. She then found out we're due next weekend and replied that I look so good I make her a little sick. I think this is a complement?

* I was talking to my 70+ year old coworker in an elevator yesterday. We were discussing my recent newspaper article and how I'm still running. Another 70+ year old lady in the elevator commented that I shouldn't be running. Thankfully, my coworker told her that I was doing just fine. The other lady then went on to say that at 8 months pregnant, she went water skiing. How, exactly, is this safer?

* Abbe, my preggo running partner, and I are both signed up for the 5K tomorrow. It will be ON HER DUE DATE. I'm so happy to have found somebody as crazy as I am :) We figure if it doesn't send one or both of us into labor, at least it'll make for some good stories!

* Speaking of labor, as if I don't already talk about it enough lately, congrats to the Cara, Kelly, and Jess, who have all had their babies recently. I'm starting to feel like I may be finishing DFL in this race...

* And finally, here's a picture of the growing watermelon. I was a little nervous to post a pic with SO much skin, but I guess I've shown more when I've posted swim suit pics, so here it goes:

I'm not sure how much more I can stretch...

Race report coming soon!

38 Weeks

2011-05-30T17:55:00.000-05:00

Honestly, there's not much to report on this end. After a lot of running around to a couple of parties and Gear West Du last weekend, I was exhausted for a couple of days. This weekend, I kept it a little more low-key. I let Steve and my brother Matt head up to Apple Du by themselves (traveling that far from home at this point makes me a little nervous anyway even though it doesn't look like the munchkin wants out too badly). Mostly I've spent this holiday weekend wrapping up some loose ends, cleaning, and doing a few small projects. Oh, and I've taken several naps.

Abbe and I got in another run on Saturday, and today I hopped on the recumbent bike at the Y for 85 minutes. I was reading a really big "Caring for Your Baby and Young Child - Birth to Age 5" book, and my arms were actually sore from holding it up by the end. Yikes I've got some upper body work to do!

I've decided that if this kid doesn't come out to meet us by next weekend, I'm running the Grand Old Day 5K. Steve and I ran it together a long time ago - way before he got too fast for me.

A page from my old running scrapbook

A close-up of our baby-faces from 9 years ago before we did our first 5K together

It's a local celebration that starts in the morning with an 8K run, an 8K inline skate race, and a 5K run/walk. Then there's a parade and TONS of food, alcohol, and people watching. Normally I work on this day, but my hospital scheduled someone else knowing there's a good chance I could be in labor and not able to report to work. The last few years, it's sort of become a tradition for me to do a long run on Grand Ave in the evening after all of the celebrating is coming to an end. It's kind of fun watching the carnage after an all day drinkathon for a lot of folks. When Steve and I ran the 5K years ago, it was pretty low-key. A lot of the really competitive runners do the 8K, and there are plenty of walkers, so if I need to take a quick walk break at 39 weeks pregnant, I won't be finishing dead last.

No news on the baby timeline - just a lot of waiting knowing we may be able to meet him/her in a couple of days or as long as 4 weeks. Looking at the increase in temps finally approaching, I'm really hoping for a few days. I'm a little worried that I'm still feeling too good for labor to be eminent. I'm having more and more days where I'm feeling uncomfortable, but I'm still feeling OK for the most part. I'm not sleeping any worse than I've been sleeping for the past few months, I can still get my wedding ring on and off, and all of my shoes still fit. My belly is getting HUGE, though :)

I received a lot of positive comments regarding the article about exercising during pregnancy that I was featured in last weekend. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that it is inspiring current and future preggos to stay healthy and active. Mentally, I would be in such a different place right now if I weren't able to stay active.

I have professed my love for NUUN many times here over the years. Even though I'm not currently into heavy training, I have been drinking it lately. Although it may all be in my head, I'm drinking a LOT of water these days (sometimes up to a gallon a day) and sometimes feel a little funny. Worried that I might be diluting myself out too much, I started putting NUUN in one bottle. As an added bonus, some of the electrolytes in it can help to curb leg cramps, a common occurrence during pregnancy. Well, they recently came out with a whole bunch of new flavors. I've given the Grape, Strawberry Lemonade, and Fruit Punch all a try, and they're DELICIOUS! I went nuts at REI this past week when the tubes were all 25% off. A lot of other companies (Hammer, Gu, etc) have come out with comparable products. Although I'm excited to try out some of those products someday to see how they compare, all of the ones I've looked at contain stevia as a sweetener, which has not been proven safe in pregnancy.

Well, that's a lot of random thoughts in one place. Now I'm off to set up the BOB with Steve - one more thing to check off the to-do list!

37 Weeks... and Counting

2011-05-21T12:40:00.001-05:00

Today we've officially hit our 37 week mark. In the pregnancy world, that means we're technically "full term," even though my due date isn't for 3 more weeks and I may have as many as 5 weeks to go. Like Most pregnant women, I'm hoping that the munchkin comes sooner rather than later, but I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I need to be patient - not an easy feat for a type A personality!

I am noticing some signs that I won't be pregnant forever - a little more pinching pressure when I walk or run sometimes, a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions (some that wake me up at night), and the bump just keeps growing. Baby is still head down. We're hoping that he/she stays locked that way until it's go time!

Last weekend we had our final baby shower before Baby comes. Between that and making one last big trip to Target, Babies R Us, and Baby Grand, I think we have all of the "essentials." I'm sure there will be things that come up that we never knew we'd need, but for now, we're feeling ready. We've got the swing set up, the car seat installed, and everything washed and put away. My MD asked Steve and me if we are ready at my appointment this week. I think she was a bit taken aback when we told her that we feel like we're good to go. I felt the need to explain that we've had a number of friends who got caught off guard. We don't want to be one of those couples.

So that starts to answer the first question we get asked a lot lately - Are you ready? Physically, I think we're ready. Mentally, I'm as ready as I can be. I'm sort of treating the labor/birth process like going into a big race. I know I've prepared myself as much as possible. I think about it occasionally, but for the most part, I try to push it out of my mind. It uses too much energy, and having a specific vision about how things will go is impractical. I'm just going to have to listen to my body and make adjustments based on what "race day" brings. Of course I know that no race I've ever done, including Ironman, will likely be as demanding or as long as labor, but for now, that's how I'm looking at it.

The next question I get asked is, "How are you feeling?" For the most part, I'm feeling OK. When we had a couple of warm days last week, I was sweating for 2 days straight. My main complaint is that I really don't sleep well, but honestly, I'm not sleeping any worse than I have been in the last few months. I realize we've got a way to go, though. I have different aches and pains than normal, especially in my SI joint where things are definitely loosening up. Steve's been really liberal with the backrubs which definitely helps at the end of some long days. In general, I'm feeling pretty lucky. I'm not swelling up, I'm just a little more tired than normal, and even though I keep packing on the pounds, I don't feel like a heifer on most days. I attribute most of these things to still being able to exercise at this point.

... Which brings me to the last question I get asked a lot lately, "You're still running? Really?" My answer is pretty consistent. I'm not running fast, and I'm not running far, but I'd like to keep it up as long as I'm still feeling OK. My max has dropped to just over 5 miles. Any longer than that and I get a lot of SI pain afterward. I sometimes have to stop and walk, but not all of the time. To a lot of people, it seems really late in the game to be running, but since I've been doing it the whole time, it just seems natural to keep going. It helps that I have so many mommy role models out in the blog world who have done or are doing the same thing. It has also helped to have fellow blogger Abigailius meeting me for weekly or twice weekly runs. We met this morning for a rainy run. As usual, I had so much fun talking to her that our 40 minutes were up before I realized that I was soaking wet. I brought Steve along to snap these pics before we ventured out into the rain:

Ready to run with a whole lotta rain in the background.

We had to do the 5th grade back-to-back pose to really get the effect of 2 full-term preggo bellies :)

My preggo workouts landed Baby and me in our local paper this weekend. Here's the link to the article Can you tell I'm starting to run low on maternity running clothes? I do have a couple of pairs of shorts, but that requires a lot of body glide, and I don't risk it on rainy days.

TC 1 Mile Race Report - 36 Weeks Pregnant!

2011-05-16T22:01:00.000-05:00

The Munchkin's room is finally ready! We spent yesterday afternoon setting up the baby swing, getting the carseat installed, doing one more load of laundry, and buying a few last "must-haves." Saturday was our last baby shower. Steve's sister put in so much work, and it was a blast seeing everybody. I don't know when we'll be getting home again since pretty soon I won't want to be 2 hours from home (and our hospital). Now it's just a lot of hurry up and wait. Statistically, Baby won't likely be coming for at least 4 more weeks, but I've had a number of friends who got caught off guard, and I didn't want to be one of them!

Last Thursday was the TC 1 mile. To be honest, I've written this race off in years past. Since they guarantee entry into the TC 10 mile for 1000 out of the 3500 entrants, I've always assumed that the only reason to run it was to get a slot, and since I've always run the marathon, I wasn't interested in that. Plus, the race is on a Thursday night, and being out on "school nights" sometimes makes it hard for me to get up for work the next morning!

This year, though, I am very aware that every time I go out for a run, it could be my last for a little while. I'm still feeling OK as far as the running goes, and I knew one mile would be doable even if I was having an off day. Plus, they had given out coupon codes in our Marathon race packets last fall for $5 off one of their races. That brought the price down to $15, so I registered. I had so much fun that I'll be going back next year. It was one amazing fun party!

This was their 7th year putting it on, and they've had the bid for the USA 1 Mile Road Championship for a couple of years now. I was signed up in the "friends and family" wave, which was the first of 7 waves. I knew it would be pretty low-key, and I was confident that I could finish under the 13 min cutoff since many of my runs have been around 12:30 pace lately. My goal was just to have fun and savor what will likely be my last race before Baby shows up.

The weather was pretty crappy. It was cool and rainy, and we had to work to stay warm while we waited for the start. Steve was wearing his tri backpack filled with our stuff. The plan was for him to see me off at the start and then race ahead every couple of blocks until I got there. I really thought I'd be super slow and he'd have plenty of time to wait for me. Right before the race, he decided he just wanted to run it as a bandit. I warned him that it specifically states in the rules that bandits aren't allowed. "Honey, this is the Friends and Family Wave," he said. "Plus, you're pregnant. Nobody's going to care if I run beside you." Since it was the first time he's pulled the pregnancy card, I went with it.

Lined up at the start.

Steve and me ready to run.

I took my place at the back of the line, and we were off! The Friends and Family wave really was full of families. It was so cute! There were little kids running with their parents who were as young as 3 or 4, and there were plenty of older children, too.

Someone had told us before the race that there were mile markers at every 1/4 mile, and after dodging a LOT of people at the beginning, I hit the first one in around 2:43. That's when I knew that I was running WAY faster than I had expected. I was trying really hard not to push myself too much. I wasn't at full conversational pace, but I could still talk with Steve without much effort, so I knew I was fine. I noticed a few cheers for the beach ball, but Steve was noticing a lot more reactions. I think his favorite part of the race was seeing people's double takes, extra cheers, and smiles as I ran by. I couldn't help but wonder what people thought as I was passing them!

Running with a beach ball!

Over half done.

Unfortunately, I lost the rest of my 1/4 mile splits, but each of them got progressively faster, just as the crowd got progressively thicker as we neared the finish line. Despite the weather, there were tons of people out there!

Running toward the finish.

Crossing the finish line.

I hit the finish line in a time of 10:24.7 with a huge smile on my face. I felt a little crampy afterward - just for a minute or 2, but baby was kicking away, so I wasn't worried at all. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to run it any faster. Baby and I have now done 5 races together. How appropriate that the first one was a Twin Cities in Motion race - the marathon.

After my heat was over, we walked back to Britt's Pub to thank Michelle Frey - local speedy runner and extra loud cheerer out there. She had spotted us during the race.

With local speedy runner Michelle Frey.

We grabbed a steamer at a local coffee place and went back to cheer on the TONS of people we knew who were racing. The last waves were the women's and men's championship. I got goosebumps as Sara Hall ran by us to break the course record for women and snag the time bonus. In the men's race, David Torrence took the threepeat and the cash bonus for time. The crowd erupted!

I would HIGHLY recommend this race to the locals. It was just such a fun celebration, it's not super pricey, and it's a great way to push yourself in a distance that most of us aren't used to racing. Of course, I didn't actually race this time around, and it may have been a little less fun had I been pushing myself to that level, but I remember thinking, Wow. That's it? when I was done.

On our walk/jog back to the car, Steve commented that his legs were a little sore from carrying the backpack around for 3 hours. I smiled and coyly asked him if he thought the backpack weighed an extra 30-35 pounds. He sheepishly admitted it wasn't even close.

So what's next? Well, I'm just going to keep running as long as I can. A lot of people are really surprised that I'm still running, but I just keep telling them that it's better than waiting around. The baby's not going to come any faster if I stop. This may have been my last race while pregnant, but I haven't ruled out finding a nice slow 5K somewhere, either - one where I wouldn't feel guilty about stopping to walk if I need to. I'm not trying to prove anything. I just still feel pretty good, and I know it's good for me physically and emotionally to keep going if I can. I also know that one of these days, the running may just have to stop for a while, or maybe I'll just be one of those women who runs until the day she gives birth. Either way, I'll keep you posted!

34 Weeks

2011-05-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

Yeesh. It's funny how fast time is flying by these days. I'm waiting for the day when I wake up and feel completely preggo miserable consistently, but I've been pretty lucky so far, and it seems to go in spurts. I had hoped to post a big update at week 32, but that week turned out to be pretty horrible, and emotionally, it completely drained me. I suppose I should start back there...

I had my regular MD appointment that Monday, and when she took my measurements, she muttered a "hmmm" - not a noise you want coming from your OB. She told me that according to my measurements, the munchkin wasn't growing on track, so they wanted me to get an ultrasound to check. Well you can tell yourself a thousand times over that you're sure that everything's fine, but it really doesn't change the worry and panic you feel, and I felt both. When I called the ultrasound unit the next day, they first told me that they couldn't possibly squeeze me in for 4 more days. I politely informed them that I am a hospital employee and that if they had any cancellations before then, I could make it work to run up there. They had a cancellation that afternoon, and according to the ultrasound, Baby was smack dab in the 50th percentile for weight, now head down, and has hair. After breaking out in full out sobs for the previous 24 hours, I had a few tears of relief. It drained me for the rest of the week, though. That Saturday, I was running with my bud Haley who has been kind enough to slow WAY down just so we can get in a chatty run now and then. We were out for a 7 miler and had just hit the turn around when I hit a lip in the sidewalk and biffed it. I didn't see it, and neither did Haley. Luckily, I landed on my hands and knees and then did this pseudo-roll to the side. My first thought was embarrassment, and then I remembered I'm pregnant. My MD had warned me that if you fall after 24 weeks, it basically buys you a 6 hour admission for observation. I felt fine (just a little skinned up and embarrassed), but I knew that running home could be really stupid, so we called Steve to come pick us up and walked a half mile to wait at the next stoplight. He drove us home, and I called the Labor and Delivery Unit. I explained that I hadn't hit my belly but had fallen pretty hard and was worried that I could have hurt the placenta somehow. I didn't know if they would just tell me to rest for a couple of hours and monitor Baby's movements or if they'd want me to come in, but after they talked to the MD on call, they told me to come up. Luckily, the 2 mint chocolate Gus I'd eaten right before the turn around had the munchkin all fired up, and he/she was moving so much on the monitor that they let me go after only an hour or so of observation. I was warned by so many people this winter to be careful, and I never even slipped while running. Now that the sidewalks are clear, I need to remember to pay close attention to my footing! In talking to my friends, I was amazed to find out that most of them have fallen during pregnancy. One tripped over her dog, one slipped on the stairs, and another one fell on some ice. Hopefully this will be my one story.

I had another regular checkup a few days ago, and my measurements are back on track. The good news is that everything's still looking OK. The bad news is I'm headed for an 8+ pound baby. My MD told me that the biggest predictor of my baby's size is how big I was when I was born. Considering I was just an ounce shy of 9 pounds, I'm hoping she's wrong :)

So an update on the rest of life...

I'm still running. I can't run 9-10 miles anymore. Four to seven is now a long run, and seven takes so long that I only do that with company and a lot of Gu. For as much as I've been cursing the crappy MN weather this spring, I have been secretly happy that I'm not overheating on my runs. If we were having 85 degree days right now, I'd be toast. It's also nice to be able to sleep with our bedroom window open at night. Being a little chilly and actually being able to stay under the covers has been helping me sleep a little better.

The baby's nursery is almost complete. We still have a few items that are "must haves," like our changing pad, but for the most part, we've got all of the essentials. We've got the bedding all on the crib, pictures on the wall, and clothes washed. We have the car seat. We just need to put it in the car. Baby's and my bags are packed, and I've been stockpiling TP, paper towels, and anything else that I don't want to have to leave the house for. I've also been going a little crazy buying diapers. The coupons have been great lately, so I figured I'd better stock up while I still have a full paycheck. Next on the agenda is making some food to freeze to cut back on the need to cook for the first few weeks.

I'm still gaining weight - way more than I ever thought I would during pregnancy, but my MD is reassuring me that I'm still in the normal range. Still, as we get closer, I'm realizing how much work it's going to be to get this off. I've always been at a very average weight and have been up or down 7 pounds or so but never really had to try to take it off. I just have to trust that my philosophy of listening to my body (and breastfeeding) while making sensible food choices will eventually bring me back to fitting into my old pants - even if it does take a while.

I'm still biking on my trainer 1-2 days a week, but even the super squishy seat gets uncomfortable after an hour. I may have to use the recumbent ones at the Y for these last few weeks. Plus, I'm getting really sick of Coach Troy. At least with a recumbent, I can get through a few chapters of a baby book or catch up on a magazine.

I miss racing. I went to the Falls Duathlon to cheer on Steve and Matt this weekend. I miss being out there. I miss biking outside, and I miss being able to get my heart rate up in a way that doesn't involve simply going up our stairs! That being said, I am now signed up for what will likely be my last race while pregnant. The TC one mile is May 12. It should be fun. Steve was registering me and asked whether I wanted to be in the "friends and family" wave. I think I just looked at him astounded that he would even ask. I think most of those folks will beat me!

I have been having some SI joint pain in the last few weeks - likely from those ligaments relaxing. I know it will be even worse after Baby's born, and one of my good friends who specializes in women's physical therapy suggested this belt. Although I haven't worn it while running yet, I have worn it afterward a couple of times, and it feels like a miracle. Running and even standing in one place for a while both make that joint sore. It kind of feels like the stiff, achy feeling I get in my hips and knees after a long run. Just thought I'd pass along the info if any of my fellow preggo or post-preggo friends are looking for one.

It's funny how, especially as a healthcare provider, I've been so focused on hitting certain milestones that it never really occurred to me that I may be pregnant until almost July. That reality is starting to set in. Physically, being pregnant has been way easier than I thought it would be. Sure, I've been tired and my back hurts sometimes. I've had more than one day of feeling particularly chunky but have overall been OK with the way my body has been growing our baby. Lately, lots of friends have been telling me how much they miss feeling baby kicks. I've realized that I really need to savor this time because it will be over soon, so that's what I'm trying to do!

Finally, a picture update so you can agree that my belly, and the rest of me for that matter, is definitely growing!

Ignore the cankles... They're not terrible, but taking the pic at the end of the day didn't help...

The Preggo Athlete, Take 3 - What to Wear

2011-04-07T19:23:00.005-05:00

Warning - this post may get a little personal. I've been promising a preggo clothing post for months, so it's about time I get it done. It won't be long before I'm talking post-partum clothing!

Average weight gain in the first 12 weeks is supposed to be about 2 pounds, and at that point, baby and uterus are still tucked behind the pubic bones. Logic would tell you that you really wouldn't need any clothing changes during that time, but it seems pregnancy is not logical.

I first noticed changes in the way that my sports bra fit. At around 5 or 6 weeks, my regular Enell bra wasn't fitting, and that thing is not forgiving. I had to use the one that was a half size bigger than my normal ones. Before 8 weeks, I needed to upgrade a full size. Not only do the girls seem to grow at an amazing speed, they are super sore and require a LOT of support. If you've always been gifted in that department, you probably have a favorite brand and can just buy a bigger size. If you've never had to think about supportive sports bras, now would be a good time to find a style you like. You're going to need a good one in the next few months. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I went from Enell's 0 to a 1 and then graduated to a 2. I've already got the 3 on hand since I don't know how much bigger they'll get before the end of my pregnancy and certainly through breastfeeding. The great thing about these bras is that they are front closure, which my experienced mommy friends tell me is really helpful for breastfeeding. I have also had a number of friends recommend Moving Comfort's Fiona and Juno styles since they have front adjustable straps that make breastfeeding easier. Since I've now grown out of my biking sports bras, I've ordered a couple of these styles online. They should hopefully be here next week, and I'll have to let you know the verdict.

The second thing I grew out of WAY before I thought I would was bike shorts. By week 8 or so, my regular ones were really uncomfortable, even though the weight I'd gained at that point was about equal to a weekend's worth of food indiscretions. I can't really explain it. We've all had the feeling of our clothes just not quite fitting right, but tight clothing during pregnancy is more than that. The best I can describe it is that it feels like something's wrong. It may be mostly mental experiencing that tight fitting feeling and knowing that you're squeezing on the baby, but it felt like more than that. I began looking for maternity bike shorts pretty quickly, and the only ones I could find looked huge and were going to set me back $60. I refused to pay that much money for a pair of shorts I couldn't even try on and would only be wearing for a few months, so I went to my nearest REI and scoured their clearance rack (they also have a great selection online). I found a pair that had a really wide waistband (which I quickly learned is essential). They only had an XL. I was looking for a large and am normally a medium, but I figured I'd grow into them. I was right. Although they were pretty baggy when I first bought them, they now fit me perfectly. I can tuck the wide band under the bump, and they're still pretty comfortable. Since I'm on my trainer, I don't really need the extra over the bump support. I guess my general advice for looking for bike shorts (if you don't want to buy maternity-specific ones) is to stay away from typical form-fitting, narrow waistbanded shorts. Go instead with a pair that sits a little lower on your belly, is made with a more recreational fit, and has a waistband that is a couple of inches wide. I've been able to get by with just one pair since I'm only on my bike once or twice a week and we do laundry a lot. I'm not too worried about wearing them out.

Big banded shorts fit well under the bump. The shorts are still a little big in the legs.

At around 13 weeks or so, my running shorts didn't fit well anymore. I was able to wear some of my pre-pregnancy skirts, capris, and pants through about 18 weeks, but there were only a couple that fit at that point. One of my pairs of capris still fits, but the rest of them gave me that tight "something's wrong" feeling. Not only that, but I noticed that I would feel a lot more crampy when I ran in pants that were too tight. I scoured the internet again and found that fitmaternity.com and maternityactivewear.com both had a decent selection and clearance deals, but I was nervous to pay so much money and risk it not fitting and having to deal with the hassle of returns. Thankfully, we have an outlet store between our house and our parents' houses. I found several pairs of shorts, capris, and pants for $5-25 each. Again, the wide waistband (or at least very forgiving elastic at the waist) is key. Fortunately, outlet stores tend to carry really big sizes. I opted for XL in most of these styles, and although they are too big in the legs and the pants are a bit long, they're still fitting me comfortably. What I didn't find at the outlet stores, I was able to supplement with the clearance section at my favorite running store, Run N Fun in St. Paul. I found a pair of tights and two pairs of shorts each at 50% off. I bought the tights in an XL. The one pair of size L shorts I bought was a little optimistic. I grew out of them a few weeks later. The newest shorts I bought are an XL and are roomy enough to likely get me through to the end. Nobody tells you exactly how much your hips will expand and your butt will grow while you are preggo. Everybody puts on weight differently. While nothing will fit over my bump at this point, most of these bottoms are roomy enough to accommodate the rest of my, ahem, curves.

Believe it or not, shirts have been the most forgiving item of clothing for me. While I normally prefer to wear my shirts on the fitted side, I have plenty of race shirts that have extra room. I did have to buy several short-sleeved/sleeveless shirts. While my regular ones stretch just fine, the key is length - I don't need giant amounts of belly poking out a la white trash style. The big white one in the picture below is actually a size small tall, and it should get me by for a while yet.

My favorite pre-pregnancy shirt next to my current running shirt

Notice how the current pregnancy shirt fits well over the bump? It stays there during my runs.

Um, yeah. Steve convinced me to put this one up. This is pulled down all the way, and I'm sure it would ride up during my runs...

My other two are size XL with ample length. they aren't nearly as body hugging as my white one. I found these at the outlet store for $10-15 each. I never needed to buy any long-sleeved shirts. Although not all of my pre-pregnancy ones still fit (too short), I still have plenty to choose from. If I were going to need long sleeves through all 9 months, I would probably need to upgrade or invade Steve's closet. When I started running with fellow blogger Abigailius, she showed me the belly support band she'd been wearing for weeks and swears by. I've started wearing one on my runs in the last week or so. The bump is getting pretty big, and I thought my back could use all of the help it could get. I was a little nervous that it would cause that crampy, too-tight feeling, but it feels great.

It's ugly as sin, but it helps keep baby off my bladder and supports my back. They tend to run $20-45 and can be found at most maternity websites, and maternity stores. I got mine at BabiesRUs.

Thankfully, my shoes and socks are still fitting at this time. We'll see if I start swelling up once it starts warming up around here.

If all else fails, raid you significant other's closet. That's what a lot of my friends have done. Unfortunately, Steve only has 10-15 pounds on me at baseline, and my legs are bigger than his normally. This wasn't an option for me. I may take advantage of his shirt selection if we keep getting cool days, but so far, mine are getting me by OK.

Keep in mind that location and amount of weight gain are very individual processes. At 31 weeks, I've gained about 25 pounds which is on the higher side of normal. I've had friends who gained 15 pounds through their entire pregnancy, and I've had friends who gained 60-80+ pounds during that time. What seems to be working for me definitely won't work for everybody, and of course there will be those women out there who we all secretly hate who never really need to stray from their normal workout wear during pregnancy.

For all of my mommy blogger friends out there - do you have anything to add? I'm sure there are websites that I never found or other great places to find deals on workout clothes-maternity or not.

Way Late Get Lucky 7K Race Report

2011-03-30T18:10:00.006-05:00

Things have been pretty busy in our house in the last couple of weeks - finishing up our guest room so that we can dive into Baby's room, getting a lot of annual review paperwork done for work, and crossing more off the baby to do list (like registering) have been just a few things keeping me busy. I've wanted to get this post up even though Steve posted pics on his blog 10 days ago. I'm supposed to have a trainer date with my brother right now but have come down with some sort of super nasty bug so had to bail on him. I guess now's a great time to catch up while I'm on the couch feeling like poo... As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to back down to the 7K a week or 2 before this race. I just didn't know that I'd make the cutoff of 3 hours, and it would make me feel terrible to DNF a race. In the week leading up to the race, I had a couple of bad runs and was starting to wonder if this was it, if I was officially done with pregnancy running. I had 2 runs in a row where things just didn't seem to click, including the day I went to pick up my race packet. I was really glad that that I had switched to the shorter race. Steve and I started off the morning by driving to the halfway point of the 13.1 to see local tri buddies Mark and Kris. We parked our car and ran 3/4 of a mile there and back just to say hi. I was a little nervous that this would take a lot out of me given my crappy runs earlier that week, but it turned out that I shouldn't have been worried. We headed over to Minneapolis to get to my 7K start line and walked another 3/4 mile to join the masses. I immediately hopped in line for the porta potties! The race was HUGE. I really hadn't paid much attention ahead of time, but there were over 5,000 people signed up for the 7K. The pace markers were literally blocks from the start line. We snapped this photo of the two of us before I had to use the porta potty one more time.

Steve, Me, and The Bump

The line was moving really slow, but I wasn't too worried. The race was chip timed, and I knew I'd be lining up toward the back anyway. I heard them start before I even got into the porta potty but knew I'd still have a number of minutes to spare. I handed Steve my extra clothes, and we snapped this photo before I joined the rest of the crowd:

Baby's getting ready for a ride!

My goal was to take the whole race easy. That's been my strategy through this whole pregnancy - listen to my body, make a few friends on the course, and just enjoy getting some fresh air. 1K and 2K: 14:55 - I spent the first 2K getting into a groove. Since I had literally started behind everyone, I had a lot of people to pass! There were quite a few walkers and walk/runners out there, and we were having a beautiful morning. As I hit the 1.5 K mark, I heard them announcing the winner approaching the finish line. I had started 12 minutes after the gun, so I guess this wasn't so surprising.

I somehow missed Steve in the crowd, but he of course found me with his camera!

3K: - 7:31 I saw a porta potty but decided I didn't need it yet. We turned out of the wind, and I peeled off my long sleeves. I'm a hot runner even when I don't have the pregnancy hormones at work, so high 30s/low 40s is sleeveless weather for sure. 4K: 11:40 - four + minutes of this was a porta potty stop. At the halfway point, I really had to pee, and even though there was a line, I knew I'd enjoy the rest of the race much more if I stopped for a couple of minutes. One woman asked me if I was in the line. "Yep!" I exclaimed, "Right next to the pregnant lady!" She then went on to tell me that she was 4 months pregnant and had never had to pee so bad in her life. Just then, another obviously pregnant woman exited the john. That made 3 out of the 10 or so of us in line who were preggo :) I was in and out in a flash, grabbed some water at the water stop across the street, and I was on my way! 5K: 7:17 - feeling good - SO glad I stopped for that potty break. 6K: 7:05 - My legs felt great, my lungs felt good. My bladder was definitely the limiter. There were a few people huffing and puffing around me, and I offered the encouragement that we only had 1K left. 7K: 6:59 - People around me were sprinting to the finish. I did pick up the pace a little, but my body definitely kept me in check.

Baby and Momma feeling good to the finish. How many other people do you notice without sleeves?

Crossing the finish line with a smile on my face

Total time: 55:25 with an average of 12:45/mile. Subtracting my bathroom stop, that puts me at under 11:45/mile. At 7 months pregnant, I'm satisfied with that. Heck, at 7 months pregnant, I'm satisfied with still being able to move!

Sporting my medal just after finishing

Other numbers (not that I'm too concerned): I placed 4568/5109 total runners and 3208/3668 females. I passed 352 people out there, and 22 people passed me. Overall it was a fun race. It was well-run, had a pretty course, and had a good, excitable crowd there to cheer - even through the time I hit the finish line! Plus, I now have one more medal to put up in Baby's room - a reminder of races we've done together :)

Final thoughts: I don't regret downgrading to the 7K. I felt great and have been having good runs since, so I think those 2 bad ones were just flukes. However, factoring in several more potty stops, a few food stops, and maybe a walk break or 2, I would have really been cutting it close to meet the cutoff for the triple 7K. I'll keep my eye out for more races this spring. As long as I'm feeling good, I may as well be out there enjoying myself!

Never Say Never

2011-03-15T11:32:00.002-05:00

First of all, thanks everyone for the kind comments! I'm starting to feel like I "need" blogging a little more than I have in the last couple of years. I started it as a support system when I was training for my first Ironman. I took a lot of comfort in reading the blogs of other athletes who had finished or were training for Ironman - seeing how their training was progressing, reading the same insecurities I was feeling, and having the general feeling of camaraderie. Over the past couple of years, this blog has sort of just been a place to write about my races and general training, but I haven't relied on it as much as when I first started blogging. Now I've come full circle and am entering into a whole knew unknown territory, and it's so comforting to see so many women out there who have been through this whole process (some multiple times...) or who are preggo along with me now. Just like in Ironman training, I'm reading others' blogs knowing that my "training plan" may differ from the women around me, but the finish line looks the same!

I didn't do much of anything last week outside of work, including workouts. I really haven't been sleeping well, and it caught up with me big time. I think a huge part of it was anxiety. I feel like my to-do list for work and life right now is huge, and there are a lot of nights when my mind just races. One of my coworkers (who is due 6 days before me) told me last week told me she's all ready for her baby to come - room is set up, clothes are ready, name is picked out. All I could think of was, HOLY CRAP ALL I'VE ACCOMPLISHED IS BUYING A BOB STROLLER! Steve's in the process of painting our guest room and we're hoping to get registered and on track this weekend, but there's a lot of loose ends to take care of. I know that it will all come together, and from what I hear, this usually ends up as a "hurry up and wait" kind if situation, but the nesting brain of a preggo lady must be appeased.

On the bright side, I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. Everything's checking out great. Yes, I have gained over 20 pounds in just over 27 weeks, but they actually haven't even brought that up. Have I mentioned that I like my doctor? I did ask her again about running, just to make sure she's still cool with it. Since I'm growing normally and all of my exams look good, she said to just keep using common sense - no overexerting myself. I should keep taking it easy, be aware of any abnormal cramping, and keep my breathing in check (which thankfully still hasn't been much of an issue).

Aside from feeling like a lazy pile of poo, which doesn't seem to be good for my physical or mental health, we've been pretty busy around here, and I have been finding myself in a lot of situations I never thought I'd be in - I am these are the first of many times this will happen. Thus, I bring you the quick and dirty of proving myself wrong lately...

NSN #1: We will never buy an SUV: I thought it for years. I've always seen them as unsafe, unnecessary gas guzzling vehicles. As Steve's car has been heading south over the last couple of years, we started exploring all of our options and have been eyeing the Chevy Equinox. When the transmission started making threats 3 weeks ago in addition to the car leaking coolant like a sieve and the dash lights not working at night (which I'm pretty sure is not legal...), we decided to call it quits. We really don't want to be dealing with an emergency dead car in a couple of months with a baby on the way. It's a pretty small vehicle that will be versatile enough for an active family but actually gets better gas mileage than my small car. We've already put a hitch on it for our bike rack. In an effort to merge family and multisport, it seemed like the way to go. Plus, it's gotten great safety ratings. It resulted in a couple of extra sleepless nights, but we like it so far.

NSN #2: I'll never need a bra that big: My love for the Enell sports bra is no secret. I've professed it here many times. Right after becoming pregnant, I realized that one of my first purchases was going to have to be a new sports bra. The Enell is VERY supportive, but it's not very forgiving. If you're busting out of it, you simply can't breathe. I normally wear their size 0. I went to the one store in the Twin Cities that carries the brand with the intent to buy a size 1 and possibly a size 2, too. It's funny how "you'll grow into it" suddenly becomes OK again when you're pregnant. I haven't let someone use that phrase on me since about 5th grade. When I tried the 1 last October, though, it seemed SO much bigger that I only bought that one thinking the 2 would be a very long way off. A few weeks ago, I noticed that the 1 was causing a lot of chafing and seemed like it was getting on the tight side, so I went on the emergency hunt for a 2. Thank God for Ebay. I can't afford these things full price anymore. When I switched to the 2 a few weeks ago, I realized that I'd waited WAY too long and that a 3 may not be far off. Lord have mercy. Thankfully their sizing goes up to an 8, but if I get to a 50DDD in this process, somebody'd better shoot me. I still owe you all a post about the rest of my exercise clothes, but the sports bra is something you simply can't skimp on.

NSN #3: I'm not one to back out of a race: I had grand plans to run the half marathon this weekend. I've still been doing long runs and feeling good, but it seems that 10-11 miles is about my max before I start to feel a little tired. I signed up knowing a lot could change, but I didn't realize that my pace would keep slowing so much. They changed the location of the course and set a 3 hour time limit. Granted, some of my runs have been on really terrible slushy footing, but my pace is often 13+ minutes per mile. That doesn't leave me any cushion if I just wanted to walk the last 2-3 miles (or to account for the likely 4+ bathroom breaks I'd need), and I don't trust myself not to push it if it means a DNF. A DFL I could handle, but not a DNF. When they changed the course, they offered a free downgrade to the 7K so I took it. The 7K has a 2 hour time limit. Go figure. I'm still going to keep up my long runs for as long as I can, but I don't want to be pressured into keeping a certain time. By the way - in addition to the amazing number of potty stops you need during a long run, it's crazy how much food you need. I've been good about drinking water on my runs, but over 10 miles used to be my cutoff for when I'd consider taking a gel, and I rarely need one before 13. With Baby on board, I consistently need 300-400 calories during a 10 mile run.

NSN #4: I'm going to lose all of my running partners as my "pregnancy pace" just keeps getting slower: My friend Haley has been great and is still joining me for some of my longer runs. It's amazing how fast they go by when you have somebody to talk to! A couple of weeks ago, Abigailius contacted me. She's a fellow blogger athlete who is also preggo and due 6 days before me. We live just a few miles from each other. It's one of those crazy intertwined life stories where when you start making the connections, it's a little freaky. We went to the same undergrad, we have done many of the same races, I peripherally knew her husband years ago, and Steve taught her sister. Our first run was so fun that we have our second running date tonight!

NSN #5: This winter is never going to be over: We're supposed to hit 50+ degrees twice this week. They're predicting that all of our snow could be gone within a week. I'm not holding my breath that we're truly out of the woods, but it feels so good to think we might be getting close!

NSN #6: I'll never find maternity clothes that fit: I have been looking for weeks. Fortunately, I found a couple pairs of pants that have been working great, but all of the maternity shirts out there look and feel like tents. Plus, it's highway robbery how much they charge for those unflattering chunks of fabric. I have been starting to freak out as my bump is getting increasingly larger and I'm down to the same 5 pre-pregnancy shirts that have been compassionate enough to grow with me. I looked at a bunch more places yesterday and came up with squat. We really can't afford for me to blow an entire paycheck on 3 shirts. Last night on my way home from the dentist, I stopped by my second Herberger's of the day and had success!!! I didn't actually find a good maternity shirt, but I found SEVEN regular shirts in sizes and styles that will fit me for at least a couple more months. Those seven shirts were each 85% off, and I scored all of them for $52. That puts yesterday's extensive shopping excursion at 1 pair of pants, 2 camis, and 7 shirts for $100. I was so relieved when I got home that I was downright giddy!

On my Trainer a week ago - I can't fit into Aero, but I can still hang out with Coach Troy!

The Preggo Athlete, Take 2

2011-02-24T16:33:00.004-06:00

Quick update: I'm still running but slowing down dramatically. I'm running out of running partners. Thankfully, a few of my friends have been taking pity on me and are still joining me for a run here and there. I never mind running by myself, but my new slow pace definitely drags it out.

Up until this week, I have been totally fine with the weight gain and the changes my body is going through. I weigh myself several times a week. I know a lot of women just don't want to know, but I have taken comfort in knowing that my weight gain is very normal. I just laughed when I surpassed Steve last week. This week however, I stepped on the scale and had gained FOUR POUNDS in 7 days. I honestly don't even know how that's possible. I mean I am hungry ALL OF THE TIME. Hungry like I've never been hungry. I have run 12 marathons and trained for 2 Ironmans and more 70.3s than I can really count right now, but I have NEVER been this hungry. It's insane. Still, how I could eat and/or drink enough to equate to four pounds is beyond me. Plus, ladies and gentlemen, that puts me significantly ahead of "average." Now I know a lot of people view pregnancy as a time to eat whatever they want and not have to move for 10 months. My view has been that I am trying to grow a healthy baby. That involves gaining weight - a lot of weight (25-30 pounds by most resources), but it doesn't give me any free passes. I'm eating my fair share of sweets, but I've also really ramped up the fruits and veggies. I know it'll come off a lot slower and harder than I put it on.

I think everybody hopes to be the cute preggo woman who grows a watermelon in the front and no anchor weight in the back, but it's becoming apparent that that's not me. I don't feel huge (yet), and I've actually gotten a lot of complements on my growing bump, but it all came to a head last night. I burst into tears and apologized to Steve for having let myself go. His response? "You're pregnant. You're not chubby." Then he gave me a big hug and tucked me into bed. He's great. He's been great through this whole process. Still, he hasn't gained a single sympathy pound. I've more than once wished he could carry our baby, but then I remember what he eats and am reassured that it's probably best if I do it!

I went for a run at the dome tonight, and I just wasn't feeling it. I often have to talk myself into getting started and sometimes even to get through the first mile or two, but tonight after two miles, I wasn't feeling better, so I called it quits. I have a long run this weekend to be rested up for. Early bedtime for me tonight. One more day left in the work week!

Just so I don't sound completely whiny, here are a few things I'm truly thankful right now:

* A husband who is more supportive than I ever could have imagined. I'm getting pretty spoiled :)

* An awesome family who is just as excited as we are.

* Still being able to run at this point, even if it is slow. Steve's still out with his Achilles injury. So far my body's holding up OK!

* Baby kicks. It's pretty fun to feel him/her going to town in there. Baby is especially active after workouts. Not sure if it's telling me that it likes the workouts or it's mad at me for bouncing all over the place.

* Getting to the point where I definitively look pregnant and not just extra chubby.

* Knowing I'll have most of the summer off - it's a welcome thought after such a long, snowy winter!

* I can still tie my shoes. I have heard that won't last forever.

The Preggo Athlete, Take 1

2011-02-16T21:17:00.009-06:00

Disclaimer: I am now days away from being 6 months pregnant. It's obviously a huge part of my life. I am fortunate to have a group of girlfriends who are willing to share this stuff openly. If you don't want to read about what happens to physically fit women once they're pregnant, you may want to stop back in a few months. I have found it really helpful, though when my fellow bloggy friends offered their experiences during this whole process, so here it is for those who will someday find this useful.

Disclaimer #2: Every woman is different. I have heard of women running marathons 3 days before giving birth, and I've had many people tell me that they had to stop early because they were two nauseous/sore/tired/in pain to keep at it. This is my experience. Take that for what it's worth.

Today's post will start from the beginning...

Steve and I were fortunate to only have to "try" for a few months. I think trying to get pregnant is like tapering for a big race - with every little thing that feels/seems just a little off of "normal," you're wondering if it's the big I - injury, or in this case impregnation :) We as athletes are so in-tune with our bodies that we can usually tell when something's up. After a few months of false alarms, I really did think something was different just before the Twin Cities Marathon, but it was too early to tell. Some of my friends said that their gums started to bleed. Others were constipated before they took the test. Some noticed their run times slip. For me, I suddenly stopped being able to sleep and was ridiculously hot at night. Oh, and I had HORRIBLE heartburn. The night before the marathon, I really didn't know what to do. It was too early to take a test and know for sure that a negative test was definitively negative, and I had no idea what I'd do if it came back positive, so I just went for it knowing that I'd have to take it easy. As I mentioned in my previous post, I promptly freaked out when the test was positive the next day. Friends, books, and my doctor all reassured me that I was fine.

My teammate Chris's wife Cara had put together a great post a couple of months ago describing books that she has found helpful regarding exercise and pregnancy. For Christmas, Steve got me the book Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by Dr. James Clapp. I wish I would have read it before we even started this process. Although the pictures in the book are really dated and a little bit hilarious, the info, albeit a little dry sometimes, does a great job of explaining physiologically what's going on before, during, and after pregnancy in athletic women. I had a lot of people who knew we were trying tell me that I exercised too much to get pregnant. My answer was always the same - I'm of a healthy body weight and body fat percentage, and everything else is normal - I think I should be fine. Turns out I was - we conceived a week after I did Cedar Point Half Iron Distance race - with a PR.

I read Exercising Through Your Pregnancy from cover to cover. Like I said, it's a little dry at times, but I found Dr. Clapp's research helpful, reassuring, and interesting. Did you know that an exercising woman's placenta is 20% larger than her non exercising counterpart's? For regular pregnancy info, I have found Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy to be helpful, especially with respect to the week-by-week baby development info and month-by-month mommy development info. It gives the breakdown of average weight gain, where it goes, and how much to expect at what times. While this component freaks out many women, I have actually found it reassuring to know that I'm right on track and completely normal in that department. It's a little strange to step onto the scale and see the numbers go up every day. Knowing what's normal may be helpful, especially on days like yesterday, when I officially surpassed Steve in weight (he only had 10-15 pounds on me to start with. I knew it would come eventually).

As far as allowed workouts, most resources say no contact sports, which is sort of a no-brainer. Many references said that biking is OK until 12 weeks because your uterus is still protected by your pubic bones up until that point. I asked my doctor at my first visit, and she said no outdoor biking. She said the risk is too great if I were to fall, and I agreed, especially since she's pretty liberal allowing for other forms of exercise. I've been on the trainer for all of my bike workouts. I grew out of my tri bike about a month ago and had to switch to riding my old road bike. My belly wasn't huge by any means, but my legs would hit it in aero position, and the hoods on my tri bike are sort of nonexistent. On my road bike, I can sit much more upright, and it was easy to switch out my regular seat to a super wide squishy one that we had on one of our commuter bikes. With my sit bones expanding, all of my regular bike seats have become SUPER uncomfortable. I do wear a HRM on my bike. I'm not as good at judging effort on the bike, and fortunately, 140 is pretty easy to abide by for me. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology did away with the 140 heart rate max a number of years ago and now say to just keep it at a moderate effort, but since the two correlate so well for me, I use a heart rate monitor on my bike. I know I'll miss biking outside in another month or so when it warms up around here. I really love those early spring rides.

Swimming and walking both have the green light and are highly encouraged. Unfortunately, I haven't found swimming to be very enjoyable, which surprised me. I sort of thought that all pregnant women are supposed to love swimming. It's something that I have to work at anyway. It now feels even less natural, and if my breathing gets off, my heart rate goes through the roof. I'll stick with it because I know it's good for me, but it's really not that fun.

Running has been my mainstay workout this winter. I equate running while pregnant to running with an injury. Things don't feel normal. Good is a relative term, but the endorphin rush is the same, if not better. Twinges and weird pressure and all sorts of new sensations are a regular part of a pregnant lady's body. You have to learn what's normal and when to back off. I remember asking my doctor at my first visit what exactly I should be doing. Many of the recs out there are for women who were only moderately or barely active when they got pregnant. There is very little info for people who were working out 10-15 hours a week. She basically just told me to listen to my body and back off if it was telling me to. "So if I feel OK, I can still go out and run 10 miles?" I asked. She told me I was fine but that I may not be able to run 10 miles forever and to be prepared for that day. I've been running at the Metrodome when I can and have actually been running outside a lot too. I usually get out 3 days a week. We've had a ton of snow this winter, and the sidewalks are terrible, but they plow really well down by the Mississippi River, so that's where I've spent all of my miles. My doctor did give me a stern warning that I shouldn't be running on slick surfaces due to the risk of falling, so I haven't strayed much from my safe, plowed route. Of course I use the term "running" pretty loosely these days. When people ask my pace, I tell them I run pregnancy pace. My 9 - 9:30 minute miles have slowed to somewhere between 11:00 and 12:30 minute miles. Most of my old running partners can't keep up with me. It's a little depressing, but I've had so many friends who have come back faster than ever that it really doesn't bother me. I go completely on feel and try to stick with a conversational pace. My friend Sara posted about "pregnancy miles" when she had her daughter, and although I've been sticking with regular miles, it's kind of fun to think about. Basically you just take your total run time and divide it by your pre-pregnancy pace. That suddenly turns an hour-long 5 miler into 6+ miles run for me! Oh, and the frequent trips to the bathroom that pregnant women refer to? They're amplified when running. It's not uncommon for me to have to stop once or twice per run. From my own experiences and from what I've read, the cardinal rules of running (or exercising for that matter) are: don't overheat, wear comfortable clothes and good shoes, drink plenty of fluids, eat food if necessary, and listen to your body. I'm still getting in 15-25 miles a week and just signed up for a half marathon in a month. I'll scrap it if I stop feeling OK while I run, but for now I think it's completely doable as long as I bring plenty of food, keep a comfortable pace, and walk if I need to. I'll keep you posted on how the next few weeks go!

The Preggo Athlete, Take 2 will likely reference workout clothes. I have found this area to be a lot more challenging than I thought it would be.

Happy training, everyone!

Securian Winter Carnival 10K Race Report and BIG Announcement

2011-01-30T19:46:00.009-06:00

I had hoped to be able to do the half marathon this year - when I signed up for their half a couple of years ago, it was so cold that day that they shortened it to a 1/4 marathon. My sister Annie was being officially inducted into her nursing program early in the afternoon, though, and some quick math when we contemplated signing up revealed that Steve had time to run the half, but we'd never make it to LaCrosse in time if I ran it too. Fortunately, this year they added a 10K to their annual scheduled 5K and half.

Steve and I got to the race around 40 minutes before the half start and quickly saw people we recognized. We snapped this photo before we got too distracted...

Our BIG announcement!

I joked that this way people passing me wouldn't feel too good about themselves :)

Yep, that's what you think. We're due in June! This would be Baby's 3rd road race. (I ran Twin Cities Marathon the day before we found out then had a brief freak-out the next morning. I ran the Polar Dash a few weeks ago in a time that wasn't worth posting - see below.) We made our way to the porta-potties to stand in line, a must for me these days. Afterward, I smooched Steve, wished him luck, and headed back inside for a few seconds to warm up since his race started 5 min before mine.

Inside, I ran into Steve Q who was sporting a shirt from the early 80s when this race was a full marathon. I showed him my shirt, thanked him again for the fudge he gave us at Dome Running a couple of weeks ago, and made my way through the building. As I passed one woman, she said to me, "Oh! I just read your shirt! I just found out I'm pregnant this morning... It was sort of unexpected..."

"Congratulations!" I said with a big smile.

"So...so you can still do all of this?" She asked with tears forming in her eyes.

"Sure!" I replied, "I found out the day after I ran a marathon. You just have to take it easy." I congratulated her again, gave her a warm pat on the shoulder, and made my way out the door.

I saw the start of the half marathon but somehow missed Steve. Five minutes later, the 10K started. I lined up toward the back knowing I wasn't out to win the race. The goal was the same as my 10K a few weeks ago - keep it comfortable. My pace has become embarrassingly slow in the last few months, but running still feels good.

"When are you due?" a voice beside me asked about a half mile in.

"June 11th," I replied, and with that, I made my first friend of the day. It turned out that my new friend's name is Drew, and he's also a triathlete. We chatted about our race schedules and our favorite races as we ran through downtown St. Paul. When we passed mile 1, I realized I'd forgotten to start my watch. Drew said he had about 11 minutes for time - right on track for my recent pace. As we made our way toward the river, I was really sad to have to let Dru go, but I figured it was a good time to take advantage of a porta potty (BTW, they were EVERYWHERE on the course - a pregnant lady's dream). With my bathroom stop, miles 2 and 3 took me 23:40. Keeping my conversational pace, I cheered in all of the 10K runners who had already hit the turnaround. Around mile 4, I caught up with an older gentleman. "How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Oh, not bad for an old guy," he joked, and that's when I made my second friend for the day. His name is Jerry Stamm. Jerry and I spent the next mile and a half sharing running stories. He's 66 years old and got into running in 1983. He ran his first marathon when he was 50 years old. Jerry's pace was just a hair slower than mine, but I was having so much fun talking to him that I didn't care. Miles 4 and 5 ticked by in 22:50. With about 3/4 mile left, I told Jerry that I was going to pick it up a little, and he told me to go on ahead. With just a few block left, I heard a "Hi hun!" and turned to see Steve passing me. I had joked that with a few minutes' head start, he could beat me to the finish line, but I didn't really think it would happen. It turns out that their half marathon was 1.4 miles short secondary to a volunteer having them turn around early.

Steve passing me with just a few blocks left

I hit the finish line feeling like I could have easily run another 6 miles. I had a huge smile on my face and Steve caught it in picture.

All smiles after 6.2 miles!

My last 1.2 miles took me 12:02 for a total time of 1:09:26 - a minute faster than my race 4 weeks ago and a new pregnant PR! I saw Jerry a few minutes later and thanked him for a great run. Steve and I said goodbye to Nicole, his running partner for his race, and booked it to our car.

Steve was a little bummed that his race was short but wasn't too broken up about it. We both agreed that had it been and "A" race for either of us, we would have been pretty upset. The 10K was great - I loved the combination of running by the parks and downtown and getting to see the river too. They had plenty of bathrooms and water, and we had beautiful January weather.

We made it to Annie's ceremony a few minutes late but with plenty of time to make her smile up on stage. We snapped this pic after her ceremony:

The Linder Kids - Matt, Me, Annie, Steph, and Mike

Then we ate a tasty, tasty supper. Thanks Mom and Dad for treating us!

More on being preggo in an upcoming post. For now, happy training, everyone!

My Latest Evotri Article

2011-01-09T21:24:00.002-06:00

Below is the latest article I wrote for Evotri. I know this time of year I can usually use all of the motivation I can find. I left out a ton of books that we have on our bookshelves for brevity's sake :)

Maybe you’re looking for some tri-related reading to take along on your winter or spring vacation. Maybe you’ve recently signed up for your first triathlon and are looking for a place to start. Maybe you’re just looking for motivation to get you off the couch and back to training this month. I have mentioned before that when I signed up for my first triathlon, I didn’t know a soul who’d ever done one. To help me figure out what exactly I was supposed to be doing, I turned to my local Barnes and Noble and picked out a book that looked like it had what I’d need. I’m now heading into my 7th year of tri training and have amassed more triathlon-related books than I really care to admit. Below, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorites, a brief description of each, and who I think could benefit from reading them.

Triathlon Training, Michael Finch – This was my very first triathlon book. It is written for the super beginner, and that’s exactly why I recommend it for people brand new to the sport. The information it offers is valuable but basic. The training programs, which vary from sprint distance to iron distance, are canned ,week-by-week plans. Having the plans pre-made helps take some of the overwhelming factor out of being new to the sport. Steve and I have used the programs offered in this book for his student tri club.

The Triathlete’s Training Bible, Joe Friel – This book is often considered a “must have” in every triathlete’s library. It covers all topics in much more detail than Triathlon Training. It’s nearly twice as long and doesn’t have the same pictures and illustrations. I honestly think it would have been too much for me when I started, but once I’d been in the sport a year or two, I found it really helpful. Joe Friel flushes out the concepts behind periodization and shows you how to build your own training program depending on the time you have and the races you are training for.

Triathlon Swimming: Made Easy, Terry Laughlin – I read this book while reteaching myself how to swim through the Total Immersion program. Although the book does go through the 13 steps of Total Immersion, I think many tri swimmers could benefit from reading it. It discusses efficiency in the water, gives some exercises to help you become more efficient, and offers valuable visualization techniques and tips for “feeling” the water to slip through it more easily.

Trizophrenia, Jef Mallett – Although this book won’t do much to advance your fitness, it’s a great book that reminds us why we love the sport. The stories and anecdotes will resonate with beginners to seasoned triathletes. It may also be an insightful read for those who love us but don’t necessarily train with us. The illustrations (Mallett is the creator of the comic Frazz) are an added bonus to the lighthearted book.

17 Hours to Glory, Mathias Müeller with Timothy Carlson – I have been doing this sport for a while and knew some of the big names but didn’t necessarily know their stories. I had seen the images of the woman crawling across the finish line at Kona all those years ago but didn’t know her name. I knew the names Mark Allen and Dave Scott but admittedly couldn’t tell you which was which. This book offers a valuable history lesson on some of the biggest pro names in the sport while intermixing stories of inspirational age groupers like Team Hoyt and Sarah Reinertsen. The 17 chapters, which each focus on one athlete, make for a moving read whether you’re Kona bound or new to the sport.

Training and Racing with a Power Meter (2nd Edition), Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, PhD – When I first got my Cycelops Power Tap and Joule, I was SUPER excited but also felt a little lost. I wanted to be able to get the most out of this tool in my training and racing. When I asked my coach for resources, he referred me to this book.

The Time-Crunched Triathlete, Chris Carmichael and Jim Rutberg – This is the newest addition to our triathlon library, and although I haven’t gotten to read it yet (Steve’s been hogging it), I am really interested in some of its theories. I have definitely had seasons where training took a back seat to the rest of my life. It offers sprint and oly plans to keep you competitive and a 70.3 program that promises to get you to the finish line (but not necessarily with a PR).

Happy Reading, Everybody!

New Year, New Post, New Race Distance!

2011-01-02T20:52:00.008-06:00

Happy New Year everybody!

So I realize that it's been an ETERNITY since I posted last, but I really haven't had much to say! I haven't raced since the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, and the rest of my workouts have sort of been business as usual. I'm still trying to get to Master's swim, but driving late in the evening to swim and then leave the Y wet in -20 degree F temps at 9 PM has been a challenge to say the least. I'm hoping to get back in the pool this week now that the Holidays are over and I'm not so dang exhausted. Biking outside is obviously over since we've had over 3 feet of snow so far this year - the snowiest December on record. My brother Matt, Steve, and I have been hitting our trainers in our basement once or twice a week. Monday Matt and I went for 1:40. I'm not sure if I mentioned it last winter, but the Spinnervals Endurance Pack is TOTALLY worth the money. The individual workouts are INTENSE, and even if you choose to just do a part of one, you'll still get a fabulous workout. The DVDs are 90 minutes, 90 minutes (3 x 30 minutes), 2 hours, 2 hours, and 3 hours. Matt and I are working our way up to those distances. Even if we only do 60-90 minutes of one, we never feel like we're slacking!

My running has been going surprisingly well. After a great November, December hit with a bang - lots of cold and snow. I was thankful to be able to retreat to the Metrodome for twice weekly Dome running, but then the roof collapsed, and that's been out of the question. I was faced with the decision to either head to the Y for the treadmill, which I detest, stop running and hibernate all winter, or bundle up, HTFU, and head outside. When I found out that they have been plowing down by the Mississippi (just under a mile from our house), I dug out my turtle fur, my windproof hat, and my trail shoes. It was embarrassingly obvious last year when I realized that trail shoes make great winter running shoes - they're windproof and have much better grip than my regular shoes. It only took me 12 years of winter running to figure that out! I always forget how much I love to run in the winter. There's something magical about it. It's quiet, really bright at night from all of the snow, and I always feel safer knowing the likelihood of someone hiding out in the bushes when it's sub-zero is pretty low. It takes me forever to warm up afterward, but I'm rarely cold during the run. Thank goodness for our fireplace!

As I was running by the river two weeks ago, I saw signs for the Polar Dash run. I hopped on their website to see that they had a 5K and a 10K and decided that 1/1/11 sounded like a great day to run my first 10K. I've run a dozen marathons and done races of many distances, but despite having done a number of 10Ks as part of multisport races, I've never done one as a stand alone race. Steve signed me up, and I was ready to go!

The Polar Dash starts at Shriner's Hospital in Minneapolis, about 1 2/3 mile from our house. Steve and I decided that we would just run to the starting line and run home. He was doing an indoor track meet today, so he just came along to cheer and take pictures. The race doesn't start until 11 AM, which is a good thing because we got freezing rain and snow the night before and these temperatures the morning of the race:

BRRR!

We needed all of the help we could get in the temperature department!

We got to the race site with about 15-20 minutes to spare. I hit up a porta potty, ate some Sharkies, and stood by one of the propane warmers for a minute before making my way to the start.

Frozen face, frozen Sharkies :)

Steve and me before the race (Steve's face is already frozen).

Thanks for the photo Guy and Jenny!

There were just under 1800 runners between the 5K and 10K, and we all started together. It took me 5 minutes just to get to the starting line! Soon enough, though, we were off. My fingers had gone numb while we were waiting, so I was happy to get moving.

Getting started with 1800 other runners

Starting with a smile

Since the 5K and 10K were together for the first 1.5 miles, there were lots of families, dogs, and runners of all ability. It was a pretty packed field, especially when the 5K front runners had turned around and were heading back. When we passed the 5K turn around, our field thinned out a lot. There was a lot of slushy, slippery snow on the road at the start of the race, but once we got into St. Paul, the roads were totally clear. I love running on my home turf, and this race was no exception. Seeing all of the trees covered in snow, the frozen river, and the faces happy to be out running with me was a great way to start the year. I got to cheer for people who were making their way back. When I hit the turn around, I was feeling great. By mile 4, my feet were wet, but I was staying plenty warm. One of the bike medics passed me at around mile 5 and asked how I was feeling. "Great!" I replied. "And good thing too because I have to run home after this!" I joked. I felt strong as I neared the finish line. I flashed Steve a smile as I ran it in, and the smile was still there when I hit the mat.

My finish with a smile

I got my medal, downed a glass of hot chocolate, and Steve and I quickly made our way back home. He had been standing outside for over an hour at that point, and his fingers were frozen. We cheered for other 10K runners as we ran back along the river, and I made it a point to thank the volunteers again. One lady asked me if I ever warmed up. I replied that it was fine while we were running. She and the other volunteers had the hard job! We snapped this photo before changing into warm clothes and making some homemade hot chocolate:

The medals are stained glass and super fun!

Then I grabbed the newest issue of Runner's World, a warm kitty, and my warmest fleece and sat by the fireplace.

The perfect recipe for thawing out

Overall, I had a great race. I LOVE races in my backyard. It was well organized, and it was nice to be able to sleep in that morning. This may have to be a yearly tradition!

Still Jumping in at Master's Swim

2010-10-19T09:25:00.002-05:00

So what's next for me? The Twin Cities Marathon is usually my last big event for the year, and it's always a bit of a letdown when it's over. Suddenly the nights are getting shorter and the days are getting cooler. I don't love fall. I never have. I'm a summer girl for sure. Fall just means winter's coming. Last year after the marathon, I signed up for Surf the Murph 50K. I had felt pretty good during my marathon training and waited to see how my legs healed after the race. They gave me the green light, so I signed up.

I knew going into the marathon a couple of weeks ago that I had done training just to get by. I was trained for a half iron distance tri and had squeezed a little marathon training into that schedule. At around mile 20 of the marathon, I knew that I wouldn't be doing a trail run this year. It's SO much fun, and it's a great community that I can't wait to explore further, but I'd be kidding myself if I thought my body was ready. I briefly toyed with doing the 25K instead but have decided to forgo it. Maybe next year. Essentially this means that I don't have any big events on my schedule yet, which always freaks me out a little. Over the next couple of weeks/months, I'll come up with my 2011 race schedule. Right now, the only race there is the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon that my Evotri buds will be joining me for.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we've been having here in Minnesota. Anytime we can hit 75-80 degrees in October we celebrate! I've been on a couple of beautiful fall bike rides, gotten in some long runs with my brother and friends, and am still going to Master's swimming. It's no less embarrassing. We worked on the butterfly this past Thursday, and I'm closer to drowning than swimming when I attempt that stroke. I have nearly given up on the whip kick. I may never be able to do the breaststroke properly. I always thought that I as a runner had bypassed "inflexible ankles" that is commonly the complaint when runners take up swimming. Beth, our instructor, has informed me that this is likely my problem. On the positive side, I did flip turns for all but one of my turns during intervals last Thursday. I am making progress, people! Slowly but surely, I know that aspects of my stroke are improving. At the very least, not taking a 5 month holiday from swimming this winter should really help my speed next summer.

Happy off season, everybody!

Twelve

2010-10-03T18:41:00.005-05:00

The short version: I ran my twelfth marathon today. It wasn't my fastest, it wasn't my slowest. I was aiming for around 4:15 which I figured was a reasonable goal for me. I finished in 4: 23:03 with a smile on my face.

The long version: We had a crazy huge clan doing this race last year. Borsch and I did the marathon and 10 of my siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins did the 10 miler. This year I was flying solo in the marathon while Steve, my brother Matt, my aunt Nancy, and my cousin Megan did the 10 mile. My mom and sister Annie came up to sherpa. We comfortably fed 7 of us last night and hit the hay for an early alarm clock. Since the 10 miler starts just after 7, we were leaving my house a few minutes past 6 so we could get the 10 mile runners there in time. Mom dropped us off and then stopped back to my place to pick up Annie so they could beat Steve to the finish line. While Steve did his warm-up, Megan, Nancy, Matt, and I tried to stay warm in the dome before making our way to the 10 mile start. Steve was in the first wave. I wished him luck, gave him a smooch, and watched the race commence. After the first wave left, I got to see Matt and Nancy line up in wave 2 (Megan was in the last wave) and then made my way back to the dome. It was really cold this morning – around 40 degrees, our coldest day since last spring. Since I had sent my sweats with my mom, I was rocking two pretty sweet garbage bags – one on top and one as a skirt. I indulged in a couple of potty breaks and then made my way to my own start line. I had told a coworker and another friend that I would meet them near the 4:15 pace group, but I didn’t see anybody. They played “Everybody Looks Good at the Starting Line” just like they always do; then we were off!

My goal was to hit an average of 9:45.

Mile 1: We ran through downtown and all hooted under one of the buildings – 9:41. Good. Right on track

Mile 2: We ran past the Basilica with the bells ringing just as they always are. I was warming up and had to shed my long sleeves - 9:30. I had to ask myself if I was running too fast. Nope, feeling comfortable.

Mile 3: decided against the water stop. I still had a nervous bladder and didn’t think I needed it yet. We ran past the guy who’s always playing the tuba. I heard someone call him Mike - 9:54. My average was till fine so I just made a note to pick it up a little.

Mile 4: 9:32 – still feeling good

Mile 5: Running past the lakes is truly beautiful on a sunny fall day - 9:14

Mile 6: I stopped to walk through the water station but was really surprised when I saw my split of 10:27. Maybe the markers were a little off?

Mile 7: I finally decided to take advantage of a short porta potty line. I was in and out in a minute, and my split didn’t suffer too much -10:28

Mile 8: Time to get back into my groove -9:52 – a little slower than I was looking for.

Mile 9: Up and down those little hills you forget about every year -9:33. Better

Mile 10: Feeling fairly comfortable pace-wise, legs getting a little achy - 9:30 - Solid.

Mile 11: Time to turn off the parkway and head onto Cedar - 9:35

Mile 12: I seem to forget about the bridge on Cedar every year. It’s a descent climb. I waved and smiled when I passed the bagpiper band - 9:31- doing a good job at making up for lost time on miles 6 and 7 and still feeling steady.

Mile 13: I saw Tiffany near the halfway point and flashed her a smile -9:35. I hit 13.1 in just over 2:08. I was still feeling strong and knew that if I kept a consistent pace, I’d make up that minute.

Mile 14: 9:53

Mile 15: 9:27

Mile 16: 9:51

Mile 17: 9:27 – Still feeling OK, but my stomach was a little queasy. I had been eating and drinking and decided that I was short on something.

Mile 18: I stopped to get in some Nuun in. I knew it would help my stomach and that even though it was cool, I was probably still sweating - 10:57. Yikes. Going to be hard to make this up…

Mile 19: I felt better immediately after the Nuun and energized knowing I was crossing the Franklin Bridge and inching closer to St. Paul- 10:01, need to pick it up a little

Mile 20: I felt like I was back to my earlier pace and was surprised to see a 10:14 split.

Mile 21: Starting to cramp up a little - 10:30. 4:15 is going out the window

Mile 22: Still cramping. I decided I needed more Nuun and stopped to dissolve some. I need to figure out a better system for this process - 11:57.

Mile 23: I looked back to see the 4:30 pace group right behind me. I did some quick math in my head and determined that I wasn’t doing that bad - 10:16

Mile 24: I tried to pick it up and couldn’t I really wanted to get ahead of the VERY peppy 4:30 pacers. I am absolutely for getting people excited out there, but every 10 seconds is a little excessive in my opinion. I slowed to grab one last big drink of Nuun -10:58

Mile 25: Time to rock and roll. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I would get to see my family - 10:40. Still holding off the 4:30 peeps

Mile 26: I high-fived all of my family just before the Cathedral. The Chicken Dance came on Steve’s old-school boom box - 10:18

Mile 26.2: I was determined not to let the peppy 4:30 pacers pass me. I pushed it in as hard as I could, even though I was cramped in places I haven’t cramped in years -2:01

Total time: 4:23:03

That was probably more detail than anyone cared for. Before more reading, here are the pics Steve took as I was passing them:

Coming up to my family, ready to finally get rid of that shirt!

Smiling even though my legs were KILLING me

High-fiving my AMAZING family - thanks for sticking around everybody!

Final Thoughts:
I really did have a great race, even though it may not sound that way. In the first 18 miles, I would catch myself smiling for the sheer reason that I am blessed to be able to do this. I knew that I would be running this marathon, not racing it. I have really only “raced” two marathons. In one of them, I PR’d big time. In the other, I fell flat on my face. Both required very dedicated training and hurt the ENTIRE time. All marathons hurt, but racing one brings on a whole different level of hurt. I knew going into this one that I wasn’t trained to race it, so I set out to have fun instead. I high-fived kids, I talked to a couple of first-timers, and I enjoyed the beautiful weather.
I didn’t drink enough. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that until I was home later. I let the cool weather and the absence of copious sweat cloud my judgment on how much fluid I really needed out there. I drank at many of the water stops, but they only fill those tiny cups half full. I really should have been more aware of what was going on. At the time, it just felt like someone flipped a switch and added 1-2 minutes to each mile. I LOVE Nuun and generally train with a Fuel Belt. I either need to start wearing it for races or get a small hand-held bottle to dissolve the tablets in as I’m running. Waiting for them to dissolve in a cup or half chewing them to speed up the process aren’t quick means of getting the stuff in me.

Sorry if you’re an i pod lover, but I am really saddened to see what MP3 players have done to the marathon scene. I would estimate that 30-50% of the runners around me were wearing them. When I did my first marathon in 2000 and even as recent as a few years ago, there was more happy chatter, joking around, and interacting with the crowd. I can’t believe how much it has decreased. All day long I found myself going to crack a quick joke with the person next to me only to realize that they had earbuds stuffed in their head. In every case I decided against saying anything. People put huge sound systems on their front lawns to blast music. Bands come to play for us. The tuba guy and the bagpipers make the trip for us. Two hundred fifty thousand people come out to cheer for this race, and there is only one lonely mile where the crowd is thin. My family rents costumes at $80 each to cheer out there. Steve and I spent part of our Friday night coming up with this year’s soundtrack to blast for people a half mile from the finish line. I may make a lot of enemies with this rant. I know that many people aren’t truly tuned out, and there’s a good chance that the issue is actually with my unwillingness to talk to people with headphones on. However, it did seem much lonelier out there than during the half marathon portion of my last 70.3, where headphones are still banned.

The 4:30 pacers finished literally just behind me. Since they started behind me in the corral, that puts their total finishing times somewhere between 4:22 and 4:23. I'm not so sure that's successful pacing. I'm not trying to totally bash them. I LOVE using pacers when I can. However, If I had been running hoping to keep up with this group and they were running 15-20 seconds/mile faster than I was expecting, I'm not sure I could have done it.

I LOVE my family. I was looking forward to seeing them all day. They took some hilarious photos while they were cheering in their costumes. After the race, we all came back to our place and had a grill out and birthday cake! I feel really blessed tonight.

Next year will be the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon’s 30th anniversary. If you’re looking for a well-organized race on beautiful course with top notch crowd support, consider this one. It’s worth the trip.

Race Week...Again

2010-09-29T21:33:00.003-05:00

It seems that Rev3 was just yesterday. That's not far off. It was just 2.5 weeks ago. I feel like I've barely recovered and it's time to race again! I'll be running my 11th Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon this Sunday. I still remember talking to a woman during my first marathon. She was running her twelfth marathon, and I thought to myself that that was SO MANY marathons. In four days, that will have be me! Aside for my one year at Grandma's, I really haven't branched out much in the marathon world, and that's OK with me. I really love the freedom to race multisport during the spring and summer and then have this race to look forward to every fall. It's truly a spectacular venue. It's right in my backyard with unbelievable crowd support and organization. The expo is HUGE and really fun to walk through (and lots of yummy samples!). It's a beautiful race, too. It starts in downtown Minneapolis two blocks from my hospital. We then pass by several lakes, run along the river, and head up past the University of St. Thomas - my undergrad where I really fostered my love for distance running. Once I'm there, it's the home stretch. Although it's never easy to finish those last 6 miles, I've been running on Summit Avenue since I started college in 1999.

It's funny how much my running has changed since then. My first year of marathon training consisted of 60-70 mile weeks. Now I squeeze marathon training into my tri training. My endurance is still there, but my peak weeks are closer to 30-35 miles. When I ran my first marathon, I only knew one other person who'd ever done one. I ran the race alone except for Steve and my sister Steph cheering for me. Afterward, I went back to an empty dorm room. This year I will be running the marathon with a dozen or more people that I have met over the past few years and am happy to call my friends. I'll have friends all over the course cheering, and my Mom, brothers, sisters, and husband will be waiting for me near the finish line, four of them dressed in crazy animal costumes - a tradition Steve started a few years ago. I have done this race as an A+ race, a B race, and a C -- race. After Ironman 2006, I almost didn't do it at all because I had pneumonia/bronchitis. I've run this marathon with many first-timers - my sister Steph, my brother in law Jon, my friend Janna, and my buds Jess and Maddy.

This race now symbolizes tradition for me. My family comes up, we eat together, some of us run the full, some of us run the 10 miler, and we have a grill-out afterward. The race is always around or on my birthday, so we usually top off our post-race meal with some guilt-free cake.

I really don't know how the day will play out. The weather looks like it will be PERFECT - 40-60 degrees, partly cloudy, and no rain. My last long run, a 20 miler, was at the end of August. Then I started tapering for Rev3, then I was racing Rev3, then I was recovering from Rev3. I know I still have a lot of fitness left, and I felt on top of the world for nearly 6 hours of racing that day. I figure I can muscle through 4.5 hours or less of running. It won't be a PR day, but It certainly has to be better than racing with pneumonia! I think I'll be aiming for around a 4:15 - a relatively practical goal for me. More than anything, I'm going to set out to have fun. I'm going to welcome people to my beautiful cities, encourage a first time marathoner, thank all of the people who come out to cheer for me, and flash my family a huge smile when I see their furry faces just before the finish line!

Jumping in at Masters Swim

2010-09-20T20:25:00.002-05:00

Our local YWCA has been offering Masters swim classes for a couple of years, but I've always been too intimidated to try it. I've gotten a little faster this summer, though, and have been doing plenty of intervals in the pool. They kicked me out of my lane a couple of weeks ago when I was doing my last long swim before Rev 3. As I was moving over to an empty lane, I started talking with one of the guys in the class, and he seemed really nice. The group was doing a workout that seemed manageable, and the "slow" lane had a woman I know that swims my pace. I decided that after Rev3, I'd sign up and come back.

Fast forward to this past Thursday when I figured I'd be recovered enough to join the group. I introduced myself to Beth, the instructor. I was really excited to get started until she wrote BREASTSTROKE on the white board. We started doing drills. Apparently I've been doing the whip kick wrong for twenty years. You know, since level 3 of swimming lessons...oops. I do this weird hybrid between a whip kick and a scissors kick that really doesn't belong in the presence of several former collegiate swimmers. Beth gave the others their drills to do. She gave me "modified" drills so I could get the basics down a little better. She had to stop me at the end of the lane several times to give me pointers. It was MORTIFYING! For me, feeling like I'm holding a group of people back is the worst, and that's exactly what I did for most of the class. After the drills, we did 9 x 75 IMs with different combinations of breast, back, free, and fly. Since I now know I can't do the breast with any sort of correct form and I can't do the fly for more than a few strokes, I had to alternate between back-free-back and free-back-free. I apologized to the guy in my lane several times, and repeatedly apologized to Beth. That sinking feeling of not being good enough to be there hung over my head the entire hour.

I'm not a swimmer by trade. I passed all of my swimming lessons when I was young and have always loved swimming for fun. I took to the distance pretty fast when I decided to train for my first tri in 2004. Steve and I taught ourselves Total Immersion in 2005. Since then, I have worked on improving my form and speed. I'm still not fast at all - around 2:00/100, but I'm comfortable in the water and generally enjoy it. I guess that's why I was so surprised to feel like a kindergartner in an algebra class on my first day. I talked to the instructor after class and asked her whether I was just in way over my head. She was very gracious and told me that she has swimmers of all different levels in her classes and that she's taught people who are afraid to put their faces in the water. Somehow that didn't make me feel any better. When I told her that I've done Ironman a couple of times and that I'm generally comfortable with the distance, she looked genuinely shocked. I'm not sure that was a compliment.

I know that sticking with this will be good for me. It'll be great to meet some new people and improve all of my swim strokes. It will keep me motivated to get in the pool this winter, something that I struggle with every off season. Eventually, it'll make me faster, too. I can tell that already. I'm planning on going back for at least a few more classes. I'm sure that if I can just get over the initial embarrassment, I really will have fun. On nights when we focus on free and endurance, I'll be fine. I'm already a little nervous for this Thursday, though, when we focus on the butterfly. Gulp.

Happy swimming everybody!

Rev3 Half Iron Distance Race Report

2010-09-14T09:02:00.004-05:00

Grab a cup of coffee, folks. This is going to be a long one. I won't have pictures until later. Steve's still fixing them up because he took over FIVE HUNDRED shots this weekend. He was the most amazing sherpa ever.

I was a huge mix of emotions coming into this race. I was excited to be racing my ninth half iron distance race, stoked to be doing my first official race with my Evotri teammates, and nervous as hell that I would fall flat on my face. I'd been working my butt off this summer for this race - literally and figuratively. I have been chasing this elusive sub-6 half iron distance ever since I came in at 6:06 on a short course at Chisago last year. That 20 minute PR planted the seed that maybe, just maybe, I could eventually see a 5 at the beginning of my finish time. I had major taper brain, though, and the last couple of weeks have been really rough on me mentally. In addition to having had a stressful couple of weeks at work, all I could think about was the workouts I missed this summer and how I may have thrown away my chance to really rock this distance. I trained more for this half than I've ever trained for a half. Having a coach has really kept me accountable, but it also magnified every workout I missed (even though Coach Tony was totally OK with a missed workout here or there). I was hoping that my Zipp 606s would make me that much faster on the bike. I've done a couple of time trials on them, but this was my first tri with them. I know as well as anybody, though, that sometimes it's just not your day - weather, wind, flats on the bike, horrible cramping... anything can happen out there. I think my biggest worry was that I'd put in so much time and energy this summer and still wouldn't see a PR.

Steve and I flew into Cleveland Friday and met up with our team for supper at a fun brewery. I'm always amazed that we are just able to pick up right where we left off. They are truly some of the best people I know. After driving the hour to Sandusky and the Cedar Point Amusement park, Rob, Michelle, and JP hit up the rides while Steve and I unpacked our car and reassembled my bike (I had to take it apart for the first time for air transport). Then we splurged on some ice cream, caught up with our roller coastered out teammates, and headed for bed.

Saturday was a flurry of checking our bikes in, registering, team activities, a quick, very choppy OWS, and a team meeting. At the meeting, I asked everybody to write their expected splits down so Steve would know when to be looking for people. I wrote down swim: 43, bike: 3:05, run: 2:05. I didn't know how realistic these times would be. I knew that the weather was expected to be cool, but they were also predicting a 10-20 mph wind that would be in our face on the bike return. I knew if I was going to break 6, these were the numbers I needed to see. That night, the team grabbed supper at a yummy Italian restaurant before grabbing a few last minute groceries and getting ready for bed.

Our alarm went off at 5 am on Sunday. Since we were in the park and just needed to take a shuttle to the transition area, we figured this would give us plenty of time to be on the bus by 6 and out of transition by the 7:20 cutoff. The full Rev 3 racers started at 7, but our swims wouldn't be starting until 8:30. I had layed everything out the night before and knew I had everything I'd need except my race belt. Luckily, the All 3 Sports tent had opened up early, and I was able to purchase one there. I slathered on the sunscreen even though the sky was full of clouds and we were all contemplating how many clothes we'd need on the bike.

We snapped a couple of photos before wishing Robby and Sweet luck. They were in the first wave, followed by JP, followed by Sara, Michelle, and me. Charlie and Lisa were in the waves behind us.

The Swim:

The swim is set up like an upside down U (the start and transition are not the same place). I was SO thankful that the wind had shifted. Our practice swim the day before had been a little rough - lots of chop, a strong current, and HUGE waves. This swim, albeit still in lake Erie, was a little smoother. I tried to draft when I could, maintained a relatively straight line, and swallowed a ton of water on the way back. I'm not sure if it was the waves or if I was just trying to go to fast and wasn't rolling far enough. I got kicked hard in the hand once but overall had an uneventful swim. I saw teammate Tracy, sidelined by some cracked ribs, at the swim exit and flashed her a smile. I ran up to transition and crossed the mat. I'm not sure what happened to the timing. I had myself with a 41:23 swim. The official race results list me as a 42:13. I had been secretly hoping for a sub 40, but doing it in a huge lake with some chop probably isn't where I'll see that.

T1:

When we started the race, air temps had been in the low-mid 60s. I had been mulling over what to wear on the bike all morning. By the time I got out of the water, it was 9:20, and even though it was still cloudy, I knew it would be warming up. I decided to just wear a band over my ears, gloves, and my regular attire of bike shorts over my tri shorts. I was out in 3:02.

The Bike:

I knew the bike would make or break my race. The wind was nasty at 14-21 mph, and it would be in my face on the way back. Since I was aiming for just over 3 hours, I decided to break the bike up into pieces and just aim for a goal of over 18 mph for each hour. This seemed to work really well. The course was beautiful - lots of orchards, farms, and little stands selling fruits and veggies. Some people had described the bike as flat. I definitely wouldn't label it as flat. There were a couple of medium sized hills but mostly usable rollers. It was a pretty fast course, though. There were a couple of roads that were really rough, especially on the causeway on the way out and back and one area that was chip sealed. I got passed a lot at the beginning, but I caught a lot of them back at the end. I kept waiting to turn into an impossible headwind. I was feeling so good that I knew there must be a horrible part coming up. You know what, though? It never came. The headwind on the last few miles on the way back was strong. I kept aero, stayed strong, and just kept pushing with a high cadence. Hour 1: 18.65 miles Hour 2: 18.37 miles Hour 3: 18.95 miles/1:02:43 hours (18.06 average). Data from my Joule:

Distance: 55.98
Average power: 133
Average cadence: 93
Average speed: 18.31
Average HR: 150
Normalized Power: 139

Total bike time per the race results: 3:02:53 - an 18.37 mph average, the fastest bike split I've posted in a tri of any distance.

T2:

I got into T2 feeling like a rock star. I was on track for a PR and had just killed the bike despite a nasty wind. How appropriate, then, that as soon as I crossed the mat, a guy put a camera in my face like I was some sort of pro. He filmed me the entire time I was in T1. I racked my bike; ripped off my helmet, sunglasses, bike shorts, earband, gloves, and shoes; changed out my nutrition; snapped on my race belt, donned my socks and running shoes, grabbed my hat and was out in 1:32. All of the pictures that Steve got of me crossing the mat to the run show me trying to get my hat on.

The Run:

Steve was cheering for me coming out of T2, and I could tell he was excited to be telling me that I could run a 2:10 half marathon and still break 6 hours. I was getting pretty excited myself and was ready to tear it up out there. I had had to pee since about mile 35 of the bike but knew I could wait until I found a port a potty on the run. By now, the sun had come out, and it was heating up. The run course was really pretty - out along the lake, weaving through town, and then back along the lake into the amusement park. One of my favorite parts about the run was that I got to see my teammates JP and Sweet rocking the course with only a mile or 2 left of their runs. I high-fived Rob out there and cheered in the other athletes who were heading in, including Tri Eric, who I'd just met that morning. I also got to see pros (doing the full) on their runs everywhere. It was so cool to be out there with them and to be cheering for local pro DKT as he attempted his first full iron distance race (he finished 3rd and took the series). On the way back in, I was cheering for all of the age groupers starting their runs for the full. I was feeling on top of the world and having a great run. With just a few miles left, I wondered if I should be pushing it more. I was still waiting to blow up out there since the run of my half in June and my half marathon in July both didn't go as planned. I was quickly realizing that my sub-6 goal was going to happen and wondered if I pushed it in just a little more if I could see 5:55. I never blew up. I just kept feeling better and better, and with 1.1 miles left, I started to hammer. Splits:

Mile 1: 9:16
Mile 2: 9:02
Mile 3: 10:17 - finally found a porta potty
Mile 4: 9:48
Mile 5: 9:30
Mile 6: 9:20
Mile 7: 10:26 - walked while eating, drinking, and getting some NUUN down - one hour to go!
Mile 8: 9:38
Mile 9: 9:32
Miles 10 + 11: 18:56
Mile 12: 9:35
Mile 13: 9:13
Last 0.1: 1:07

As I entered the finisher's chute, I felt AMAZING. I got a little choked up that I'd finally broken 6. When they called my name, a huge smile crossed my face. I threw my hands up and crossed the finish line.

Total Time: 5:55:56 according to the official race times, 5:54:30 according to my watch - not sure why they're so different. I suspect it's the difference in swim times. Placing: 14/39 in my AG, 50/267 women, 298/600+ overall.

I looked over to see Steve in his crazy shorts taking pictures and cheering his head off, just like he'd done all weekend. It was such a special gift to have him there. I saw teammates Michelle, Robby, and Sara right away, and we all chatted about our races. JP was off to catch his plane, but he'd come in 2nd overall. Sweet finished 6th overall, Sara had a specular PR, Michelle beat Rob in their throwdown by less than a minute, and Charlie and his beautiful wife Lisa crossed the finish line with smiles on their faces.

We showered, grabbed some supper, and finally used the two free passes to the park to ride the Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, and the Magnum (twice). I was so excited to be on the coasters that I'd been in awe of over the past 2 days that I was literally running through the park. When E Speed suggested that maybe I'd sandbagged the race a little, I started to agree. Today, 2 days later, I'm still sore. Not sure if it was the overzealous roller coaster chasing, the travel time yesterday, or the race finally settling into my muscles, but I'm not walking normally yet :) We watched the end of the full for a while before heading back to our hotel so we could be up early Monday for travel.

Final Thoughts:

I know a lot of people are looking at this as a future race. Here are a few additional comments that I have.

* We stayed in Hotel Breakers. It wasn't too expensive (~150/day for a double room). It is a big hotel, has 3 pools, plenty of restaurants, and a shuttle to and from transition. It does not have a continental breakfast, and it would be best to bring your own. We had a fridge but no microwave. Food for Steve and me got pretty expensive over the weekend.

* Unfortunately, even though transition was only 1/4 mile away via the beach, biking and riding along the road between the hotel and the parking lot where transition (~2 miles of driving) was was not allowed, and they strictly policed this. You had to either drive or take the shuttle.

* We flew Southwest. It cost $50 each way for bike transport, much less than other airlines. We then rented a car. You'd need one to get from Cleveland to Cedar point (around an hour drive) and to get back and forth from transition to your hotel. Many of our friends drove, but the 12 hour travel time would have made it impossible for us to get back in time for Steve to teach class on Monday.

* Our race entry came with 2 free passes to Cedar Point Amusement Park. Extra passes were $29 through our hotel and I believe $39 through the race. The passes were good for Sat or Sun. We waited until Sunday night, and within an hour's time, got to ride 4 rides that normally would have had a 1-3 hour wait each. Some of my teammates took advantage of the deal they offered for racers and volunteers for Friday night. For $15/ticket, the park opened many of their big rides for 3 hours. My buddy Robby sprinted around the park like a little kid and rode coasters until his heart was content with literally no lines. Had I planed better, Steve and I could have arrived earlier to take advantage of that offer. By the time we got to the park, unpacked, and reassembled my bike, we ran out of time.

* As a half, this race was AWESOME, especially on the run. Since it was about 4 miles out and 4 miles back with around 5 miles' worth of loops in the middle, there was a lot of opportunity to cheer on and see other runners who were on the run for the half and on the run for the full. This is one of my favorite parts of an out and back. I could see how this race could get pretty lonely on the run for the people doing the full, though, especially on the second lap of the run.

* The volunteers for this race were top notch, especially for this having been a new event. There really wasn't a lot in the way of spectators. I suspect that this will change as the race matures, more locals know about it, and transportation for families improves.

* The numbers I heard were that the full had around 400 people and the half had around 800. With only 400 people in the full, the finish line was pretty sparse both with the numbers of racers coming in and spectators waiting there.

* I would highly recommend not leaving until Monday if you are able. Our hotel closed at noon Monday (off season, only open on the weekends), so we wouldn't have been able to stick around much after that. It was really nice to be able to enjoy the park, see the finish line, and not be rushed, especially since our race didn't even start until 8:30.

* The Rev 3 corp is doing a top notch job at competing with the WTC. They really are trying to make it about the athletes and their families again, which is so good to see. They took our pictures to show up on the huge screen at the finish, we had name tags at our spots in transition, and racers could cross the finish line with their families - just a few of the touches they put on the day.

*That being said, this is still a growing race. It didn't have quite the spectacle or crowd support as IM Moo, the only other 140.6 I have experienced to compare it to. As a half, it's one of the best ones I've ever done.

* The only complaints I have about the race were a few roads on the bike (mentioned above), porta potties for spectators were needed at transition and the finish area, and the finish area was a little hard to get into for spectators. Had it been easier and had there been bleachers for people to sit on, I suspect the crowd would have been bigger as the 17 hour cutoff approached for the athletes doing the full. Otherwise this truly was a great race.

* This was the first time I've raced with a 30 on the back of my leg (my races earlier this year were not USAT sanctioned). My birthday is in 3 weeks. If this is what my racing will be like in my 30s, bring them on!

My Second TT Experience

2010-08-08T09:42:00.005-05:00

I posted a report on my mostly disastrous bike time trial here. I was more prepared for this one. I arrived in Baker Park just up the road from the TT start with plenty of time to spare. I did an easy 20 minute warmup and got in line for the start in time to see my brother Matt take off a few minutes in front of me.

I actually looked the part this time - people at this time trial show up with some serious bike porn. Although I won't have my new Specialized bike for a while, I have been sporting my sweet Zipp 606s and Power Tap. I was hoping that the combination of new wheels, a little experience, recent training, and less wind would enable me to finally see that 20 mph average I've been shooting for. They held us at the start so we could be clipped in from the get-go. My only mistake for the race was being in too high of a gear when they counted down for me.

Getting clipped in during the countdown

It took me a second to get rolling, and for a moment, I was worried that I'd tip right over. I didn't, though, and I was off!

I took the first hill cautiously and spun up it

I worked on keeping my cadence high and not blowing up right away. I spent the remaining 11 miles pushing as hard as I could. I'm not sure if I am capable of redlining in an event (my muscle fibers just aren't made for it), but I was certainly close. The slight headwind on the way back wasn't as strong as I thought it could be, and I think I actually negative split it. Coming up that last big hill, I knew I would be close on time. To average 20 mph for an 11 mile course I was looking for 33 minutes. I hit the finish line in 32:35. I did it! I finally broke 20 mph! My official average was 20.36 (the course is just over 11 miles).

Pushing it to the finish

Crossing the finish line

Afterward, Steve, Matt, and I celebrated our efforts by taking a quick dip in Lake Independence. The water has been so warm around here this summer. It felt great!

Cooling off a little after Matt and I had great rides

Red, White, and Boom! Half Marathon Race Report

2010-07-17T19:53:00.004-05:00

I decided to do this race just a week before the July 4 race day. Steve and I had been keeping our options open for the day, and since I had to work on the 3rd, we knew we wouldn't be leaving town. When Steve's parents decided to come up for the afternoon, I figured I could squeeze in a morning race. Borsch, my new brother-in-law, was signed up so I did too. I tried to convince my brother Matt to join us, but he didn't want to "ruin" his weekend by abstaining from alcohol and fun, so he passed on this one :)

I came into the race expecting to PR. My old PR for a half marathon is 1:56. I ran a 2:02 earlier this year on a gravel path half marathon, and I ran a 2:05 at the end of my last half iron distance race. Matt and I have been putting in some really solid long-distance tempo runs (8-9 miles) at an 8:20-8:40 pace. I have done plenty of long runs (12+ miles) this year. I figured that running 8:45s in a race (1:54:42 over 13.1 miles) would be realistic. My official goal was a 1:55.

Borsch and I walking to the race start

This was the inaugural race. The race was put on by the company that does the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and the TC 10 mile. I first learned about it at the marathon expo last fall. I remember thinking that it would be fun but that the 4th of July would mean it would be hot, too. Fast forward 9 months where I had been watching the weather all week. The forecast was predicting a hot race morning with a 30% chance of rain. I was hoping it would hold off until we were finished, and I was hoping that the 6:30 AM start would help keep away the heat.

Borsch and I just before the start

Steve, my funny husband and awesome sherpa!

Steve came along to sherpa, and since Borsch and I already had our race packets, we got to the start line with just over a half hour to spare. We immediately got in line for the porta potties, and that's where we stayed until the gun went off.

The never-ending potty line

They really could have used more porta potties. I've never had to wait in line so long at a race! Thankfully, there were 3000 other runners who needed to get across the start line, and by the time I got out of my potty, Borsch and I just had to jog to the herd and had a few seconds to spare before starting the race. Unfortunately, that meant that I missed my pace group. I wasn't too worried. I knew I would catch up to them eventually.

Running to the start of the race.

Right off the bat, I had a lot of people to dodge. I was trying to take it a little easy and not waste a ton of energy getting around people. Mile 1: 9:20 - a little slow, hoping to pick it up.

I had been praying all week that the rain would hold off until after the race, but 30 seconds into it, I started praying for rain, even a downpour. It was 78 degrees with 80 percent humidity when the gun went off at 6:30. At mile 2, it started to rain, and I was so grateful. I hit the 2nd mile marker in 9:03 - better, but I was still hoping to pick it up.

I saw Steve at about mile 2.5.

Feeling good at mile 2.5

He wished me luck, and just after I left him, disaster struck. I got a paralyzing side cramp - one of those nasty ones where nothing you do alleviates it. I tried flexing my abs. I tried relaxing my abs...no luck. The only thing I could do was stop and try to work it out. I knew my hopes of a PR were over. It took me several miles to get rid of it. After the cramp finally let up, I spent the rest of the race cautiously trying to push it while keeping the cramp away.
Mile 3: 9:49
Mile 4: 10:36
Mile 5: 10:01
Mile 6: 10:52 - huge hill in this section
Mile 7: 9:29 - another big hill, but I was finally starting to feel better.
Mile 8: 9:48
Mile 9: 9:02
Mile 10: 9:19

Really soggy at mile 11. I smiled for the photo op, but I wasn't too happy about my time...

At least I wasn't alone! We all looked soggy. The rain felt GREAT in the heat.

Mile 11: 9:59
Mile 12: 9:00
Mile 13: 8:57 - trying to push it in
Mile 0.1: 0:49

Total time: 2:06:06

My legs felt fine and never really got sore, but my abs totally revolted. It rained and even downpoured for the last 11 miles of the race. Every time it started to let up a little, I was afraid it would stop. It was hot even with the rain. We all agreed afterward that we would have died out there without the relief from the sky.

I knew I should have worn my tri shorts! I did get a little nasty chafing from the shorts. Where did that mammoth quad come from?

Crossing the finish line

I hit the finish line feeling a little defeated, a little disappointed, and REALLY toasty. I saw a couple of finishers with popsicles, and I was immediately on a mission to find one. Kemps had a station and was giving out bomb pops, and I nearly kissed the volunteer who handed me one. Yummy!

Steve and I cheered on the runners coming into the finish line and waited for Borsch to come by. He came in a little overheated, a little slower than he had hoped, and smiling.

Walking back to the car - Borsch was trying to stretch out a cramp!

The three of us hopped back in the car so Steve and I could get showered before his parents treated us to a SUPER tasty all-you-can eat brunch buffet at Dixies on Grand.

Final Thoughts:

* Even though I was a little disappointed with my time, I do realize that achieving a PR in that heat was probably unrealistic. Most people I talked to were 5-10 minutes slower than their goal time. Still, it's a little sad that my time was a minute slower than my time at Liberty, where my 13.1 miles was at the end of a half iron distance race.

* Average finishing time was 2:12:10 - I was better than average!

*Other stats: 1041/2376 overall 424/1324 females

* The race was fairly well run, especially since this was the inaugural event. The course was really pretty - an area of Minneapolis that I've never really seen before. It was mostly flat except for the two huge hills at miles 6 and 7. My only complaint was the lack of sufficient potties at the start. Would I do it again? I think I would. I'd just leave the PR hopes at home given the almost guaranteed heat in MN this time of year.

Liberty Half Iron Distance Triathlon Race Report

2010-06-15T21:17:00.009-05:00

In case you haven't guessed from my recent posts, this race was an "A" race for me. Most of my training this spring has been in anticipation of this race. I did this race for the first time last year and had a lot of fun. It's a beautiful course with a relatively clear swim. The bike course is hilly and beautiful, and the run is an out and back on a paved trail.

Friday, Steve and I drove to Lake Nokomis so try out my new wetsuit. I got my new 2xu wetsuit in the mail a little over a week ago, and I was hoping to wear it for the race, but I wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be any issues. Steve and I have done 2 open water swims this spring, and Square Lake has been nice and warm. However, it has been cold here the last week or two, and we've gotten A LOT of rain. This has cooled down the lakes considerably. I did not have a warm swim, and I was in and out in 10 minutes. The new wetsuit is AWESOME!!! The rubber is so much softer than my old one, and I feel more buoyant. I'm not sure if I really am any faster in it, but it's fun to think I am :)

Not long after Steve and I got back home, we heard a knock on our door. One of our new neighbors, a college kid, was coming over to warn us that they were going to have a party. I not so subtly told him that we appreciated the warning and that we would be getting up at 4 AM for a race. We were up the next morning before they went to bed. Thankfully, the noise wasn't anything that a fan and an air conditioner in our bedroom couldn't drown out.

Our alarm clock went off at a time that seemed way too early. We had laid all of our stuff out the night before, so all we had to do was get the car packed, get dressed, eat breakfast, and hop on the freeway. Transition opened at 5:30, and we were there shortly after. We saw tons of friends as we were getting ready. I said hi to all of them, but I was a little nervous and wasn't feeling super conversational.

Transition area - I'm on the right getting my stuff ready

Steve and me before the race

I was really hoping to PR at this race. My previous PR was at Chisago last summer, where I smashed my finishing times from all 6 of my other 70.3s and finished in 6:06:59. Even though that course was short, it started to make me wonder if I would be able to see a 5 at the beginning of my finishing time in the near future.

Walking down to the swim in my new 2xu wetsuit

Smiling and ready to go!

Ready, get set, go!

The Swim: I said goodbye to Steve, kissed him good luck and hopped in the water. All of the rain we'd been having combined with a spell of cool weather had cooled the lake down quite a bit. I tried to draft when I could, but I didn't have much success. It seemed that all of the women swimming in my time frame were choosing to zig-zag it! The morning had seemed pretty calm, but the water got really choppy once we got out there. I knew my swim time wouldn't be stellar. I haven't spent much time in the pool this spring. That fact combined with my usual slow swim times left me happy with the 45:05 (with about 30 seconds of that running up to transition) that I saw as I hit T1.

Out of the water and ready to hit the stairs

T1: My theme for the day was "7 seconds." I beat a girl in my age group by 7 seconds at Gear West. That 7 seconds could have come from any part of my race, but you can't always gain it in a sprint to the finish. Translation: Don't waste time. I was out in 2:24 - about a minute faster than my T1 time from last year.

Hitting my watch just out of T2

The Bike: "Seven seconds," I just kept repeating to myself. "Make the most out of every uphill. Push through the downhills when you can." My goal was to see an average in the high 17s, maybe even close to 18. In order to get anywhere near the 6 hour mark, I would need a good showing on the bike. The plan was to ride steady but comfortable on the first loop and kick it up a little on the second loop. It's definitely a hilly course, and I didn't want to blow up early. The weather forecast had been saying 70s with a 30-50% chance of rain. The thought of me being cold out there really hadn't crossed my mind. When will I learn from IM WI '06????? I was wet, and it was chilly. I don't think it got above 60. I couldn't feel my fingers very well, which made eating and drinking quite the challenge. I should have packed warm clothes just in case, but I was out there in just my bike shorts (with tri shorts underneath), sports bra, and tri top. I wasn't even wearing socks. Nearing the end of the first loop, Steve caught me (he was doing the Oly and had started significantly later than me). We wished each other luck, and I passed transition with a 17.5 mph average - time to kick it up a little. Mark Bongers, the race director, cheered for me as I passed transition. I waved, smiled, and prepared myself for round two. That's when my heart sank a little. I turned into a wind. Drat. It had picked up, a lot. I tried to stay positive. That's when the nagging feeling of having to pee started, and so began the saga that lasted the next 20 miles. It was all could think about, and I really thought that if I just concentrated and relaxed on the downhill, I could pee on the bike. Seven seconds. No time to waste. I was shooting for a 5 at the front of my finish time. I tried and I tried. I wasted so many good downhills and ended up having to power up the hills that much harder because I had lost momentum. Then I realized that it was starting to affect my nutrition. I wasn't eating or drinking as well as I should have been because I had to pee so bad. Around mile 42, I finally gave up and pulled off into some bushes. It took a full 2 minutes, which made my 7 seconds mantra seem minuscule. I felt SO much better and cursed myself for waiting so long. The wind, the having to pee, and the lack of downhill (and thus uphill) speed had dropped my average to 17.3 mph. I stared at that darn 17.3 average for the next 30 minutes. It wouldn't budge. I finally got it up to 17.4, then it started raining. No more flying down those hills. The goal for the last 6 miles became "don't wipe out." I pulled into T2 wet, freezing cold, and feeling defeated. All of that hill training had left me with 3:17:28 bike split (17.02 mph average - 0.2 mph slower than my computer's average because of the potty stop).

T2: I saw Steve cheering and told him that I wasn't having an ideal race. I was definitely feeling sorry for myself, but I still tried to hurry. I slipped off my extra bike shorts, got rid of my helmet and bike shoes, and grabbed a hat, my race belt, and my running shoes (thankfully the rain had not yet drenched my socks). My fingers were frozen, and it took a lot of work to get my shoes on. I was out in 2:12 - just a few seconds faster than the 2:18 I posted last year at this race.

Trying harder than I should be to put my socks on

Running out of T2

Just a few hundred feet into the run

Ready to tackle that first big hill

The Run: I told myself to suck it up and get running. One thing I do well in the cold and the rain is run. I told my brain that it was only allowed to cheer for people and pick people ahead of me to pass. There would be no more feeling sorry for myself. I told my legs that they were in charge of running, and the rest of me wouldn't think about it. This strategy worked really well, actually. I had seen the first place finisher coming down the wood chip hill just as I was starting, so I literally got to cheer on everybody out there (it was an out and back course). It made me feel good to be encouraging and joking around with so many of the racers as I was meeting them and passing them, and for the first time all day, I started to feel good. Around mile 10, my times were slowing up a little and I had to pee...again. In retrospect, I'm sure I was hypothermic. I really didn't drink much all day, but cold diuresis kicks in, and you can actually end up fluid down. I ducked into the bushes for the last time. Then I pushed through the pain for the last 5K to cross the finish line in a run time of 2:05:39 - a new 70.3 run PR by over 6 minutes.

Striding in to the finish

Done with my soggy run!

My hard-earned medal :)

Total Time: 6:12:49 - my second fastest 70. 3(not counting Steelhead 08 which was a du). My time was nearly 40 minutes faster than my Liberty race last year.

Final Stats:

Swim: 45:05
T1: 2:24
Bike: 3:17:28
T2: 2:12
Run: 2:05
Final time: 6:12:45 192/234 overall, 52/80 women, 11/16 AG

Final Thoughts:

* No finish time with a 5 for me this time around, but I am getting closer. I cut nearly 40 minutes off my time from last year. In retrospect, I picked a pretty aggressive course to try to see this happen. I'm hoping that with some more consistent work in the pool, a better (sweet!) new bike and wheels (which will hopefully be in my hands soon), and my new coach, attaining this goal won't be too far off.

* In retrospect, my goal on the bike was probably a bit too aggressive. My bike time at this race last year was 3:22. I was significantly faster this year, even with a duck into the bushes. I know I'll keep getting faster, and I would have loved to see my time had I not needed a potty stop so bad.

* Steve had already packed up our stuff and was ready to go.

All of our wet soggy stuff was loaded up!

The park's campground had WONDERFUL warm showers. We cleaned off, dressed up, and got in the car to drive to Steve's cousin's wedding. Unfortunately, that meant that we didn't get to catch up with our friends at the finish. Everyone did really well though!

* I know what I need to do for Rev3. Bring on the training!

My First Ever Bike TT

2010-06-14T20:48:00.004-05:00

Holy whirlwind week! I'm still beat from this weekend's half iron distance race, so I figured I'd get back to posting by writing up a quick blurb about my first bike TT. I did it last Tuesday, and since I'm still formulating thoughts about the half, I thought I'd put this up first.

I had a super crazy day at work on Tuesday. The nurses in some local hospitals were preparing to strike, so many of the hospitals were diverting their patients to us in anticipation of the strike. I ran around all day and checked my email just before I left work. Steve wasn't feeling well, but he though the GI issue he was having might be over. We headed out to the western suburbs knowing that we might be facing a wet time trial. We found Matt in the parking lot, got registered, and spent way too much time lallygagging before heading out to warm up on our bikes.

I should back up and say that it's nearly a miracle that I agreed to sign up for this thing. Gear West's Tuesday Night Time Trial (TNT) is an 11 mile out and back hilly ride where cyclists and triathletes come out to push themselves and drool over each other's gear. I went out to watch Matt and Steve last year and vowed that this thing is not for me and that I myself would not be doing it in the near future. I am admittedly a very slow biker. The top guys out there typically pull somewhere between 27 and 28 mph over the 11 miles. I've never actually averaged over 20 mph on any ride. I was hoping to change that for this ride and resolved that I didn't care if I finished DFL, I was there to push myself. I struggled with the decision of whether or not I should wear my new Evotri jersey that I'd gotten in the mail a couple of days earlier. Quite frankly, I was afraid that I would shame the team by wearing the jersey and knowing that I would very likely finish at the very bottom of the field. I decided to wear it.

Steve and I headed out to warm up. We know the area well since the Gear West Du is out there, and the TNT is part of Liberty's half-iron course. Steve explained some of the hills, some landmarks to be aware of, and a plan of attack. He also mentioned that they usually get started a little late (they start around 7 pm and let a new rider go every 30 seconds). I took that as meaning we had plenty of time and asked Steve to go just a little further before turning around on our 5 mile warm-up. That turned out to be a huge mistake. On our way back, we started seeing numbers that were getting very close to ours and realized that we weren't going to make our designated start times. Steve raced to the start line and got going right away (they calculate your overall time based on what your start time was supposed to be). I took a few seconds to rip off my long-sleeves, reset my computer, and GO!

I paid attention to what Steve had told me and tried not to blow up on the first hill. I took it fast but not out of control. I've never really tried to push myself this hard on the bike before and didn't know what to expect. I quickly realize that one granola bar before the race would have been fine. Two was too much, and my stomach revolted. A couple of miles in, I was shifting to get up a hill and dropped my chain. I don't know why. It wasn't stretched. I think I was just putting a little too much pressure on the pedals when I shifted. My bike is a little finicky like that. So, to summarize, after just a few miles, I had made the following mistakes: eating too much before the race, missing my start, and dropping my chain. Great. You'd think I'd never been on a bike before. I got passed by so many people but just kept riding as fast as I could. I saw Steve just before the halfway point. I shouted, "I love you!" which was my way of apologizing for making us late for the start. I felt terrible through the whole race knowing I had made such a silly mistake. At the turn around, I had just over a 20 mph average, but we turned into a wind on the way back. I kept pushing, but my average dropped to 19.6 by the time I hit the finish line.

Biking down the final hill to the finish line. I've got my hand ready to stop my watch.

Hitting the finishers' chute.

I was breathing hard when I finished. After I caught my breath, Matt and I stopped for a photo.

The aftermath on my leg. I'm not even sure how I got this - maybe when i dropped my chain?

Steve, Matt, and I traded war stories about our rides and went back out for another 10 miles or so to spin out our legs. I was pooped at that point and was hoping that my bad day on the course wasn't a sign of what was to come at Liberty. We discussed going to DQ vs Taco Bell, but Steve and I made a Subway stop on the way home instead.

We snapped this photo before hopping in our cars and heading home.

Final Thoughts:

* I didn't finish last! Somebody finished after me, even though my time was off. Using my actual time and not the late start time, I would have finished ahead of two whole people out there :)

* I still can't believe I made so many mistakes out there. Guess it just sets me up for a much better race next time.

* I know it sounds cliche, but I really am proud of myself for showing up to race in the first place. There are some pretty intimidating people out there.

* I cannot wait to get my new bike and wheels. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a chance to try them out on this course this summer. It will be interesting to see what a change in equipment does for my time. I'll still be at the bottom, but I know they will make some difference.

* No 20 mph for me this time. I'll keep it on the list of goals.

Stay tuned to see how my race at Liberty went...

Gear West Duathlon Race Report

2010-06-07T15:15:00.005-05:00

So I finally got a few minutes to sit down and write up my experiences at the Gear West Duathlon a couple of weeks ago. The race was actually on May 23, but then it was full speed ahead for my sister's wedding on the 29th.

I went in to the weekend really excited to finally be able to do the race myself but also realizing that this was not an "A" race. It was a "train straight through to the race" kind of week so that I would be better prepared for this coming weekend's Liberty half iron distance tri. Knowing this, I ran an easy 10 miler with my friend Maddy the day before the du. I was hoping that it wouldn't ruin my race, but I knew it would help my endurance for my half.

I have watched Steve and my brother Matt tag-team this race for the last couple of years, and the timing finally worked out so that I could do it too. From Steve's and Matt's past descriptions, I knew what I was up against - a hilly cross-country 5 K run followed by a hilly 28 K bike and another cross-country 4 K run. The course is known for being pretty brutal, and the competition there is fierce. It's not necessarily a race for beginners. Nevertheless, my good friend Jess had picked this race as her first. I had warned her in advance what to expect, and she showed up trained and ready to go.

Steve, Matt, and I arrived soon after transition opened up. We wanted to get some good spots, and we wanted to be have time to chat with all of the people we knew who would be racing. Jess showed up around the same time, and she and I set our stuff up next to each other. We went over how to lay your stuff out and how to pick a good spot in transition. Then we picked out landmarks that would help us find our stuff on the first run in and on the bike in (coming from 2 separate corners of transition).

We were in wave 4, so we got to watch the elite men, the elite women, the teams, and a few others start before us. Before we knew it, we were off!

The 1st Run:

I tried to settle into a good, hard pace. The first 1K was on asphalt, but the rest of the winding, hilly course was a mixture of grass, dirt, gravel, a little more asphalt, and wood chips. I remember thinking 2/3 into the first run that it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I guess part of me was picturing the terrain from my 50K last fall - rocks, ruts, roots, and gravel. This run was much more normal. Don't get me wrong - it was still tough, and that bear of a hill at the end seems to go up forever! There were no mile markers on this course, so I was just going on feel. I came into T1 with a 26:49 5K (an 8:56 average) - right around where I should have been for that run.

T1:

In T1, I took off my socks, slid into my bike shoes, and I was out in 1:11. I know that messing around with my socks is not an efficient use of my time, but during a tri, I won't have to be taking them off and putting them on. I prefer to bike without them, and my feet turn to hamburger if I run without them, so off and on it is. I used the talc in my bike shoes this time around, and it worked SO much better.

The Bike:

I am not a strong biker. I never have been, but I knew that a 17 or so mile bike was going to be my shortest race distance for the rest of the year. I really wanted to break 18 MPH in race at Cannon a few weeks ago, but that nasty wind threw my plans out the window. So... goal of 18 for this bike it was. The bike course is hilly, but they are usable hills, and I've gotten a lot better at downhills in the last few years. I got passed by quite a few guys from the wave behind me, but there were only a couple of women who passed me on the bike. Overall, I probably did just as much passing as getting passed. I realized a few miles into the ride that my computer hadn't cleared properly when I reset it that morning, so my average and distance were both off. I reset it and just kept pushing. My run is in decent shape right now, and I was trying not to hold out out on the bike. I drank some NUUN/Carbo pro mixture and took in the scenery. The course is just beautiful out there, and Liberty shares parts of it, so I was taking notes. It wasn't long before we were heading back into town. I finished the hilly bike in a time of 54:49 (18.6 mph average). I met my goal!

T2:

I donned a new pair of socks, slipped on my running shoes, and booked it out of transition in 1:15. I felt great. Twenty feet or so after exiting transition, I heard, "Go Sarah!!" Steve had nearly missed me :) I guess it's a sign of a good race if your support group isn't really even looking for you to come in yet.

The 2nd Run:

There was a woman in a coral colored top that had passed me near the end of the bike. She was 50-100 feet in front of me coming out of T2, and I was gunning for her. I know I've mentioned this before, but my tempo runs with my brother have really taught me to run through a lot of pain. I was pushing hard. The second run is shorter than the first, but the part that they cut off is the flat asphalt part, so proportionally, it's harder. Slowly, I continued to gain on the woman in the coral top. I didn't know whether she was in my age group, but I knew I wanted to catch her. I was breathing really hard but feeling strong. All those feelings I'd had after the first run about it not being as bad as I'd expected disappeared. I was pushing, and it felt so much harder. The no mile markers threw me off a little, and every time I thought we were nearing the end, they'd send us back into the woods for more. I finally caught the woman in coral about a mile into the race. "You've been my rabbit through this whole run!" I told her. Then I whispered to her that we could both catch the woman in front of us, which we soon did. I had now passed both women and was determined not to let them catch me again. I fought my way up that final hill and kicked as hard as I could without looking back.

I held them both off for a time of 24:22 (9:12 avg for 4K). My final finishing time was 1:48:24. They took my chip. I looked behind me to see the woman in coral finishing. I thanked her for the push. We hugged and finally introduced ourselves. Her name is Julie.

I passed out on the ground catching my breath while talking to Steve and Matt like this for the next 5 minutes. I was spent!

After catching my breath, I chatted with Jumper and several other locals before walking to the top of the hill and waiting for Jess. It was only a minute later that I saw her emerging from the bushes, and I got a little emotional. She was about to finish her first multisport race! Jess powered up the hill and ran it in to the finish.

We hung out at the finish line enjoying some tasty food before packing up our stuff, watching the results and the drawing, and driving home for a well-deserved nap!

Final Stats:

Run 1: 26:49 248/380 overall, 61/134 women, 9/18 AG
T1: 1:11
Bike: 54:49 233/380 overall, 60/134 women, 7/18 AG
T2: 1:15
Run 2: 24:22 190/380 overall, 47/134 women, 8/18 AG
Final time: 1:48:29 218/380 overall, 51/134 women, 7/18 AG

Final Thoughts:

* I think all of the hill work I've been doing on the bike this spring is paying off. I felt good out there, and this was the first time I've ever done anything over 18 mph in a race.

* The woman in the coral top was in the age group above me. I was a little bummed to find this out at first. In overall time, she beat me by nearly 6 minutes. However, this means that she is significantly faster than me, and I still outkicked her on the second run. This realization made me happy :) I wasn't very excited about my time on the second run at first. Then I started looking at the numbers and realized that I did really well compared to much of the other field.

* The girl in the black top that I passed on the second run was in my AG. I beat her by 7 seconds. I'm realizing more and more that transition times really do matter. I couldn't have run any faster.

* I ran 10 miles the day before this race and didn't notice it at all in my legs. I'm hoping this is an indication of my overall fitness for my upcoming race.

* I ran this race in my trail shoes. I felt a little self-conscious at first. It seemed that everybody else was wearing racing flats or regular running shoes, but I was SO glad to have them for this race. The terrain was nasty at times. After the finish, a woman commented that she wished she would have had a pair out there!

* I am SO excited for Liberty in 5 days - first half of the year, 8th ever. Wish me luck!

A Couple of Long Bricks

2010-05-31T20:29:00.004-05:00

I just got back from a 5 day marathon of wedding festivities for my sister and Borsch. It was so much work but so much fun. I am super behind on posts. Hopefully my Gear West Du race report will be up in the next day or 2. It went really well.

Last week's long brick by the numbers:

Temperature: nearly 90 degrees
Humidity: 30%
Number of miles ridden: 72
Number of miles run afterward: 4.5
Number of water bottles consumed on the bike: 7
Number of water stops on the run: 1
Number of NUUN tablets: 4
Amount of Chocolate milk consumed before hitting my door: 2 cups
Number of pounds lost despite all of those liquids: 1.5
Number of times I almost got killed on the bike: one - I was headed down hill and had a green light. The guy in the opposite direction decided to make a left turn. I screamed, slammed on my breaks, and popped out of my pedals, and managed to miss being hit by just a couple of feet.
Average on the bike: 15.2 mph- I need to get this up if I'm going to succeed at Liberty. I know the 6 detours (3 out, 3 back) on my bike trail didn't help the average, but I need to see better...
Average min/mile on the run: 9:10. I'm hoping for at least sub 10s for Liberty.
Length of nap that ensued afterward: 1 hour
Number of sunscreen applications: 3 - had to keep the tan lines in check for Steph's wedding!

Today's Brick:

I met Steve's swimming buddies at Square Lake for our second OWS of the year. The water is warming up quickly - it was 74 degrees today, WAY ahead of where it was last year. Steve drove us out there, and we brought my bike along so that I could get in some hills. After my 56 minute swim, I changed my clothes, slathered on a lot of sunscreen, and waved goodbye to the gang. The plan was to ride out in the the Stillwater area before taking the Gateway 25 miles to get home. At mile 5, I hit a small bump in the trail, and I heard a huge noise. I stopped and saw that my rear water bottle cage had fallen off. Closer inspection revealed the the screws holding it together had snapped off. I had 65 miles left to go and knew I couldn't just leave the bottle cage, the water bottle, and my emergency pack out on the trail. After some creative shuffling, I managed to jury-rig my pack and cages onto my aero bars and shuffle all of my food, keys, phone, etc onto one side of my top to make room for the extra water bottle on the other side. It was a little annoying, but it did the trick.

My legs felt a little heavy from the 5 hour dance marathon on Saturday at Steph and Jon's wedding, but I was happy to be out there with such beautiful weather. The Liberty course is pretty hilly, and I was trying to find lots of them today. At mile 35, I was on my way down a HUGE hill when I hit a small crack in the road and heard a loud noise. I knew it was my tire. Turns out it was my back tire. Boo. I blew a hole right in the side of the tube. It must have been a combination of the speed and the bump because there was no visible damage to the tire, just the tube seam... It wasn't until I got the new tube in that I realized that my old bike pump is no longer functional. I had to wait around for 5-10 minutes until someone with a pump rode by. The lady seemed a little annoyed that I didn't have a pump (I tried to explain that mine just wasn't working), but her husband was super helpful and had it inflated in no time. Thankfully, the next 20 miles were pretty uneventful. At first, I was bummed about all of my mechanical snafus, but then I realized that it could have been so much worse. I can fix the cage before Liberty. I'm so thankful that it didn't wait till the race to snap off. Also, when I flatted, I did it in a well-traveled bike area. I very easily could have done it 25 minutes earlier when I was on a low bike traffic road. I may not have finished my ride if that had happened. It was a gorgeous day, and I even made a friend on the way home! I passed a guy with about 13 miles left, and when he kept up with me, we started talking. It turned out that he only lives a mile from Steve and me, and we pushed each other all the way home. I'd like to get in a few hard workouts yet this week, then it's taper time! Goals for liberty to come. They're a little lofty...

So Freaking Excited!!!

2010-05-17T21:36:00.003-05:00

I have been sworn to secrecy for the last couple of days, but today it's official - I made the Evotri team! I am so excited and wanted to tell EVERYBODY, and now I can. I feel so honored to be picked from such a talented group of applicants. I know they had a tough decision to make.

Of course I am going out of my mind thinking of all of the amazing gear that this appointment will mean. I'm curious to see what having better equipment and a coach will do for my training and race times. I am looking forward to learning so much more about myself and the sport.

I may be equally excited, though, to have a bigger platform to share one of my passions - getting more people into the sport. One of my objectives as part of the team will be to cater to people thinking of taking up multisport and those who are very new to the community. I'd like to show people how to get more friends and family involved in addition to providing a resource for newcomers.

When I ran my first marathon in 2000, I knew one other person who had run one. When I participated in my first tri in 2004, I personally didn't know anybody who had ever done one. I have made so many mistakes over the years, and I hope that other people will be able to learn from them - just as I hope to continue learning through my new teammates.

Back in the Saddle

2010-05-16T21:04:00.002-05:00

I had the most fantastic weekend. After a beautiful spring, the last two weeks have been super cold and rainy, and I lost so much motivation. This weekend was sunny and gorgeous. I finally got my gardens planted, and I had great workouts.

Saturday, I met up with a group of 7 other bikers to ride the Liberty Half Iron Distance course. Most of us will be doing the race in four weeks. The sun was shining, the lilacs are still blooming, and the hills were calling us. It reminded me so much of the IM WI course - the green farm country, the hills, and all of the other bikers we saw out there. It was one of those rides where you're just so thankful to be out there. My friend Jess rode the first loop with us. She will be doing her first duathlon next weekend, and I asked her to come along to get a feel for the course since it will be similar to our du course. She just bought her bike a couple of weeks ago, and even though our ride definitely was not beginner friendly in terms of hills, she did great and got a lot of practice shifting :) I am so excited to be able to cheer for her at the finish line of Gear West du!

After Jess left, we headed out for a second loop. I got to chat with Sarah, Amy, Nat, Matt, Adam, and a woman and a guy whose names are escaping me (sorry!). Sara, Amy, Nat, and Matt are all training for their first Ironman in Wisconsin this fall, and once you get me talking about Ironman and tris in general, I can't stop! I got to talk to Sara the most before we lost the shoulder on our road and had to ride single file. All of the talk about Ironman made me really excited to head out to WI in July for WIBA. Including the "extra credit" Jess and I got for missing a turn on the first loop, my ride totalled 59 miles. I thought about tacking on an extra mile for that even number but had to get back to gardening... I don't often get to ride with other people, and I had so much fun. I think the hilly tempo rides I have been doing are paying off. I felt really strong on the hills, and though I was plenty hungry by the time I was done, my legs still had gas in the tank. I'm hoping to get in at least two 70+ mile rides before Liberty.

Today I went on a long(ish) run with my friend Haley. She'll be doing her second half marathon next weekend. We talked strategy for her race, caught up on life, and enjoyed another lovely day in Minnesota. Nine miles flew by before we knew it. I'm so proud of her. She has come a long way since her first race in January, and I'm really excited to see her smash her previous time.

Next weekend will be my second duathlon of the year. Gear West Du is an intense course with a deep field. Then it will be full speed ahead for my sister's wedding. June and the tri season will be here before we know it!

Things That Kept Me Motivated This Winter - My New Tri Suit

2010-05-06T17:59:00.008-05:00

Well, as I mentioned in my race report for last weekend's duathlon, I've been sporting a new tri suit lately. I wore it in last weekend's du to see how it would hold up so I didn't get any nasty surprises for longer races coming up. It was part of my Christmas present from Steve (and Outside PR) along with the Piston tights that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. I've been getting a lot of questions on what to wear for upcoming races from friends and blogger buddies, so this is a good chance to review some of my racing "outfits" over the last couple of years and talk about the pros and cons of each one.

Swimsuit Only:

I did my first tri in 2004. I was a broke college grad student married to another broke college grad student. I'd already dropped a boatload of money on a bike, a helmet, and some race fees, and I didn't have the dough to go out and buy fancy clothes too. I was 23 years old and didn't know any better, so I just raced the ENTIRE olympic distance race in nothing but a sports bra and a swimming suit: See exhibit A, just after a water stop:

Pros to this approach:

It was cheap. No extra clothing required. If fit the budget of a college grad student
It made transitions fast - no monkeying around
The race was nearly 100 degrees when you factored in the heat index. I probably would have been a lot hotter had I been in more clothes
I did the swim without a wetsuit and had no issues

Cons to this approach:

Now in my 7th year of tris and nearing 30, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to run around Minneapolis in nothing but a swimming suit for 6 miles.
No padding on the bike - this may be OK for shorter distances, but it can get uncomfortable quickly.
Could get really chilly on a cooler day...

Conclusion: It wasn't pretty, but it did the trick. I'd never do it today, but if you have the bod of a pro triathlete, go for it!

Getting Creative With What's in Your Dresser:

In 2006, I did my first half iron distance race. Having only done two olys before that (in my swimming suit), I wondered what I should wear for a longer race. I didn't have any mentors to ask. I knew that there wouldn't be a changing tent in transition. I knew I couldn't swim or run in my bike shorts, but I would need plenty of padding under me to survive a 56 mile bike ride. I had just finished grad school, had just dropped $1000 for boards, and was training for Ironman. Blowing our food money wasn't a viable option. I knew that I would be doing a full change for every leg of Ironman, so I decided that this would be my trial run. I swam in a two piece athletic swim suit under my wetsuit. In T1, I slipped a sports bra on over my suit top and took the suit top off (just like changing on the sports bus in high school except in the middle of transition!). I put a pair of bike shorts on over my bikini bottoms, donned the rest of my gear, and headed out for the bike. In T2, I took off the bike shorts, put a pair of running shorts over the bikini bottoms, slipped the bikini bottoms off a la high school changing again, and headed out for my 13.1 mile run. Although the swim and the run were fine, the bike was MISERABLE. Never in my life have I been so uncomfortable on a 56 mile bike ride. The swimsuit under my bike shorts was a HORRIBLE idea, and had the corn or grass been taller, I may have stopped in the middle of the bike ride to leave them out in a field. The rubbing and the chafing in the 100 degree heat made me SO glad to be done with that bike ride.

I also chose a top that was way too big, and when it got wet on the run, it turned into a dress:

Pros to this approach:

It was cheap. I already had bike and run gear. I did have better tops than that white one, which would have made the run more comfortable.
In some senses, it was good practice for the full change I did at Ironman
That race was ungodly hot. To me, nothing is more comfortable to run in than running shorts.

Cons to this approach:

See above explanation. I was miserable. In retrospect, this was a terrible idea. Live and learn...

Conclusion: While I'm all for mixing and matching and using what you already have, I could have done this much better. Had I used a more fitted running top and tried a pair of tri shorts (see below), the whole thing would have worked much better. It makes for a good story though!

Mix and Match From Your Local Tri Store:

I mostly told you about the above experiences to let you know what you may see out there and so you can see how far I've come :) I am absolutely in favor of using what you already have if you can. It's cheaper, it's less wasteful, and often it'll work just fine. Before I did my 3rd olympic distance tri in 2008, I decided that I really needed to invest in a good pair of tri shorts. I looked at the meager selection at a local outdoor store and a local running store before making the trip out to Gear West - the local mecca of all things tri. I must have tried on 20 pairs of tri shorts before deciding on the Sugoi Blast. Many of the shorts were too short, too long, the chamois was weird, I didn't feel like they'd stay put, or (you fill in the blank). To my surprise, they weren't as expensive as I thought they'd be. They cost less than a pair of bike shorts (mine were around $45). I have really meaty legs, and these shorts didn't make them look like sausages crammed into casing. I chose basic black (they come in a few color combinations) so that I could pick a tri top in whatever brand/color I wanted. I tried on a whole bunch of tops from all different companies, and I finally settled on a Nike one. It had big pockets in the back, felt like it would stay down, and the built in bra seemed to add just enough support when paired with another sports bra. Side note: I know there are plenty of triathletes out there who can get away with wearing just the built-in bra, but I'm not one of them, especially for longer distances. I ended up finding a couple more tops like it on sale later. I had had so much success with the one I owned that I bought them.

Pros for this outfit:

It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.
Tri shorts are comfortable to wear in the swim, on the bike, and on the run.
By mixing and matching at your local tri store (I recommend going in person as opposed to buying online to get a feel for what fits and what will be comfortable), you can find an entire outfit that fits well.
I LOVE the pockets in the back of these tops. I can fit an entire 70.3's nutrition back there.
This top stays put well - no belly hanging out.

Cons for this outfit:

Although it's not that expensive, it is still extra money that I didn't have several years ago. I probably could have gotten away with the tri shorts and a running top.
This top is a little low cut. That combined with the squishing going on with the extra sports bra leads to some interesting race photos on the bike - a little too much cleave for me...
I did my first splash and dash last summer. It was the first time that I didn't have a wetsuit on over my top. To my horror, the low cut top acted as a GIANT parachute, and I could feel it slowing me down in the water.

Conclusion: Tri shorts are a must. The advice that I give to all athletes doing their first multisport event is to go to their local tri shop and try on a few pairs until they find something comfortable and flattering. A good top is nice too, but if you are strapped for cash, you could always swim in a sports bra and tri shorts and put on a shirt in T1. I know this may alienate me from the cool crowd, but I still can't bike for longer than 30 miles in tri shorts. This usually means that I put a pair of bike shorts on over my tri shorts in T1 and take them off again in T2. It doesn't feel too bulky, it's never gotten uncomfortable for me, and my bum and lady parts are SO much happier.

Sugoi Velocity Tri Top and Shorts/(Insert Fast-Looking Tri Suit Model Here):

I've already talked about racing in this suit last weekend. Here's a reminder of what it looks like from the back and the front:

Pros for this outfit:

The built-in bra is very supportive (I'm still wearing my regular sports bra underneath, but the combo is almost too much support).
My other Sugoi shorts have little grippies around the bottom of the legs. I was worried that since these didn't, the shorts wouldn't stay put. I had no problems.
No sausage leg syndrome!!!
Although I haven't taken this suit in the water yet, I don't think there will be the same drag issues my old tri top has. You can zip the top up quite high.
The fabric feels like it will be fast in the water and dry quickly - a big plus for races where the swim is too warm for wetsuits.
There's a lot of technology put into the fabric that these things are made of.
I feel the part when I'm out on the course.

Cons for this outfit:

It's pricey! The top and shorts together will set you back around $220 if you pay full price for both.
I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the big white panels on the sides. For one, they are see-through. I have a freckle on my left hip, and you can see it through the shorts.
I am a very average sized person, and I don't know how forgiving these shorts would be if you are much larger than a medium. They're certainly worth a try!
The top does creep up a little, but I didn't feel like I was racing the whole time with my belly hanging out.
The pockets in the back of the top are pretty small. I'm used to the huge ones in my Nike top. I'm going to have to get creative in stashing all of my food and gear at my 70.3 in 5 weeks.
The fabric doesn't breathe as well as I would have expected. This could be an issue for hot races...

Conclusion: I feel fast when I'm in this suit. It's surprisingly comfortable, even though it's literally skin-tight. I think it will perform better in the water than anything I've used before, and so far, it has shown to perform well on the bike and the run too. They make a one-piece Velocity, but I'd much rather have the two piece. Although the one piece would solve any midriff issues, I'm not keen on having to take the whole thing off for every pre-race potty visit I make. Plus, I've had more than one race that required a duck in the bushes. It's one thing to have your shorts around your knees. It's quite another to be naked in the bushes.

I'll keep you posted on how this suit performs later this year for longer and hotter races. If you've got the money to spend on a higher-end tri suit, this is a fun place to do it.

Anybody out there have anything additional to add?

Cannon Falls Duathlon Race Report

2010-05-02T19:14:00.007-05:00

I still owe you a race report from last weekend's half marathon, so that'll be coming soon. We had a ton of fun, and although it wasn't my fastest half marathon, it wasn't my slowest either. Since yesterday officially marked the start of my multisport year, I am too excited to wait to tell you about it, so I figured I'd put up that race report first! It's also a continuation on my "Things That Kept Me Motivated This Winter" series - I'll be showing off my new tri suit.

We took a carload down to the Cannon Falls Duathlon last year, but this year, my aunt Jen was across the pond for business and my sister is just a couple of weeks out from her wedding, so it was just my brother Matt, Steve, and me racing it.

Last year was the first year that Final Stretch put this race on. We loved the low-key feel of it and the beautiful course. Plus, for some reason there's a huge difference in weather here between the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May.

The race was only 45 minutes away, and we got there just as transition was opening. We picked a great spot and quickly set up our stuff. Then the social time began. Steve and I have gotten to know Mark, the race director for Final Stretch, over the last year or two. We greeted him and his brother Steve, said hi to local speedster Julie Hull. We also found our friend Tim. Steve and I were in the same high school class with Tim, and we all ran cross country and track together. Since Tim's parents came to cheer him on, we joked that it was just like old times. Tim has done a few tris, but this was his first du. Soon my friend Jess found us in transition. Jess has been one of my running/marathon buddies for years, but she just bought a bike and is looking to do her first du in a couple of weeks. We invited her to come get a feel for how things were run and let her know what to expect for her first race. Jess took all of the pictures for the day. Thanks again Jess!

The run: My overall plan for the day was to beat last year's time. I've been doing plenty of speedwork on the run and have been putting in the miles on my bike. I was ready. I kissed Steve good luck and lined up with my brother at the start line. I was hoping to do the first run with him. We have been running together once a week, and he's really good at pulling me.

He's just a little faster than me. I was hoping to hang with him for as long as possible, and I (barely) managed to.

The course took us along the Cannon River, past the waterfall, and back to transition. Total run time for the two miles: 15:30.

T 1: This was my first race where I was going to try wearing no socks. My feet were already sweaty from the run. Good thing my bike shoes have tabs to pull them on. It took me forever as it was! Next time I'll try some talc. I threw on some long sleeves and my helmet, and I was out in 1:18.

The bike: We knew from the weather forecast that we'd have a head wind on the way back that would be nasty. People had been joking about it all morning. The reports after the race said that it was 25 mph with gusts of 30 mph. Since it was an out and back bike course, I was ready for the tail wind at the start. I still tried to push it, knowing that I would be paying for it on the way back... The great thing about an out and back bike was that I got to see Steve, Tim, and my brother out there, and I cheered them all on as we met. Everybody doing the return looked miserable. When I hit the turn around cone, I had a 21 mph average (20 minutes on the dot), but nothing could have prepared me for the wall I met. The headwinds combined with a quick uphill led to an unimaginable force pushing against me. I shifted to nearly my granny gear and told myself that I needed to keep pushing. By mile 8, my average backed down to 20. By mile 9, it was 19.1. I knew that I wouldn't keep that 18 mph average I was hoping for. I went back and forth with a couple of women. One of them told me I was her carrot. She beat me by a few meters, and I made it my goal to get her on the run. I passed several people in the last few miles and joked that running was going to be a piece of cake after battling the wind. I made it back in 30:18 for a total bike time 50:18 (16.7 mph).

T2: Again with the sweaty feet. I struggled to get my running shoes on and made it out in just under a minute.

The Run: I booked it out of T2 determined not to let any of the girls on the bike catch me. One lady did pass me right away (not one of my rabbits) and mumbled something about how terrible the bike was. I set my sights on two guys up ahead. I was a little cramped up but just kept pushing. I hit mile 1 in 8:09. Just after mile 1, I finally caught up to one of the guys. He turned around and said, "I hear footsteps!" "I've been chasing you since transition!" I replied. I told him he looked great and he thanked me. Then he shouted, "I better not see you cutting any corners at that cone up there!" I laughed and told him I had to beat him to the finish somehow. :) I love all of the great people I meet at races. I hit mile 2 in 8:16. Then I started to hear footsteps. I pushed harder. I was worried that it was one of the girls from the bike. When I turned around, though, I realized it was two guys chasing me down. I finally turned to one guy with just under 600 meters left and said, "Go ahead and pass me! I've been hearing you coming for a half mile now!"

He told me that he didn't want to get injured, and I continued picking up speed. Neither guy passed me, and I was able to catch one more guy just before the finish line. Total run time: 24:22 for the three miles. Not too shabby for me! My overall finishing time: 1:32:29 (it's a little longer than my watch time because they didn't have a mat at the start).

I caught my breath, compared wind war stories with Steve and Matt, hung out with Jess and some great local folks, and waited for the awards ceremony to start.

We had a pleasant surprise when the announced our age groups. Steve, Matt, and I all took second in our age group. Woot!

Some final thoughts:

* I beat last year's time by just under a minute. My bike split was a minute or two slower than last year, but my first run was 10 seconds faster, and my second run was 35 seconds faster. Given the crazy conditions out there, I'm pretty happy with that.

* My Sugoi Velocity tri suit held up great! This was my trial run for some of my longer upcoming races, and I was really happy with the way it performed. It's not necessarily the most flattering thing I've ever worn (seriously, I've been more worried about fitting into this tri suit properly than fitting into my sister's bridesmaid's dress...), but it performed well, and it made me feel fast. I'll have a later post comparing this tri suit to the outfit I've been wearing for the last couple of seasons.

* Official race results aren't up yet. They're still working some bugs out of their timing system.

* I'm a distance girl through and through, but I love sprints for the sheer sake of not having to worry about my race nutrition at all. I know that if I properly fuel the night before and the morning of the race, I can get away with just drinking during the event.

* My feet did not love the no sock thing on the run. I've gotten away with it plenty of times before, but they're still a little beat up from last weekend's half marathon. I think I'll be wearing them for at least the second run at the Gear West Du.

* I am SO excited to be leading my friend Jess to her first multisport event in 3 weeks.

* Holy cow, I'd better get in the pool. Six weeks to my half iron distance race! (Official race schedule to come soon, I promise)

Things That Kept Me Motivated This Winter Part 2

2010-04-18T20:46:00.002-05:00

I got to reap the rewards of Steve's sweet connection with Outside PR this winter. They had an extra pair of Sugoi Piston tights in their stash, so they sent a pair my way around Christmas to match the pair that they sent Steve last summer. I've been jealous of Steve's ability to try out the compression technology that's been all the buzz lately. The tights are supposed to offer faster recovery, improved circulation, reduced fatigue, and enhanced muscle stability. My verdict? I love them. While they're not magic, and I didn't suddenly become amazingly faster, I did feel more supported on my long runs. A few notes based on my experience with them so far:

* They're tight, really tight. They're definitely tighter than my regular winter running tights. They take a little longer to get on, but once they're on, they feel super comfortable. There were a couple of days when I left them on after I got home from a workout, and I never had that "holy cow, I just really need these things off" feeling.

* They're not as warm as the winter running tights I would normally wear which is both good and bad. If you're wearing them around the house for recovery, they will keep your muscles warm without being too warm. The downside for me was that when I was doing my long runs in the chilly MN winter, I needed to put a second layer on my legs sooner. Anything less than 15 or 20 degrees was pushing it. I can usually get by with a pair of tights down to around 0.

* While I felt more supported on my long runs, it's hard for me to tell whether they did anything to speed my recovery. I'm thinking of trying that out more this spring. It's definitely shorts weather now, and I would get WAY too hot wearing them for a run, but I may test them out after finishing a hard workout.

* I had been so excited to see whether they made me feel any different during and after my runs (my athlete brain) that I had missed an obvious side effect - compression technology makes your body look better. There's less jiggle, and my butt instantly looks better. This added benefit definitely appeases my girl brain. :)

Things That Kept Me Motivated This Winter Part 1

2010-03-28T22:02:00.002-05:00

So interspersed in my blog over the next couple of weeks will be a few of the fun/functional/motivational tools/toys that I treated myself to this winter. When there is a crap ton of snow in your front yard and the thermometer hasn't seen temps above zero in days, something's gotta keep you motivated, right? So, I bring you, exhibit A:

They're super cute (I know, that's not supposed to matter...), have a carbon sole, and are well vented at the top with holes in the bottom. Plus, they were about $60 off at my local bike shop. My current shoes that fit my tri bike are great. They are comfy, totally molded to my feet by now, and I like the ratchet system for quick adjustments in the middle of long rides. However, they're also clumsy and hard to get in during transitions, and even though a few seconds is not ultimately going to win me any podium finishes, transitions are definitely an area that I need to work on. I'm also hoping the big vents and the holes in the sole will also help them dry after rainy rides. My current ones take days to dry out, and I'm always more than a little worried that the musty funk they take on after getting so wet won't go away. Plus, I've had my Torch's since 2006, so having another pair will help absorb some of the abuse I put them through :)

So how did these shiny new shoes motivate me? Well, first of all, I knew I'd need to break them in and make sure that going sockless in them wasn't going to turn my feet into raw hamburger. Turns out that I really didn't need to worry too much about that one. I've put a few hundred miles on them without any issues (even though I've always been a sock girl on the bike). I took them on a 45 mile ride outside today, and they were great. Looks like they'll be featured in a few of my tris and dus this year!

The second way these puppies motivated me, and this one will come up with a few of my other new goodies, is that I feel the need to match my speed to what I'm wearing. I always find it comical when I pass somebody who's decked out in full kit, on a $5000 bike and averaging 14 mph. It's no secret that I'm not speedy on the bike, and I don't want to be the one dressed in all of the greatest stuff lollygagging through a race. If I'm going to be wearing things that make me look fast, then I need to work on being fast. Crazy backwards, I know.

At any rate, I felt fast out there today. As the temps have warmed up here, I've had my old road bike out on a number of rides, but it's squeaky and creaky and slow. Today I bit the bullet and decided that there would be no more trainer time until the fall. I wrestled with my trainer tire, and with a little help from Steve, managed to get the beastly thing off. I hate the trainer tire. Every year I vow that I'll either be able to get it on or off my myself, and every year I end up needing some help. After putting my trusty road tire back on, I headed out for a ride with some friends. I felt so good after 30 miles that I decided to do a few more when Mark, Haley, and Matt decided to head for home. Matt said it was because I didn't work hard enough on the hills we did, and part of that may be true, but I tacked on another 15 and made it home feeling refreshed and ready for some yard work with Steve. It's going to be a great year.

Out of Hibernation

2010-03-20T23:26:00.000-05:00

Well, the robins returned this week, and the chipmunk that inhabits our downspout is back, so I guess it’s appropriate that I come out of hibernation, too.

I tried to fight it for years, but I’ve come to learn that my body and mind just need a break each winter. The degree and length of the hibernation tends to vary, but it usually starts in November or early December and lasts for one to three months. This year, it seemed to start right after we got back from California in November and last through early February or so. I still got in a few workouts per week, but nothing super intense. All the snow we got this winter made running outside nearly impossible, but it helped the cross country skiing, and if you can’t fight winter, you might as well embrace it a little, right? I got in a trainer ride or 2 each week using the Spinnervals Endurance Pack. I’d highly recommend it. The workouts are super tough, so my brother Matt and I actually had to split up some of the 2 hour ones at the beginning. Coach Troy keeps things interesting, though, so even though all of the workouts are 1.5-3 hours long, they don’t seem to drag out. I also got in several indoor runs sans treadmill thanks to Tuesday and Thursday Dome running. That left long runs outside on the weekends, and since my good friend Haley was training for a half marathon, I had a running partner! Thankfully, she caught the bug and is training for another one in May, so I still have a partner for long runs on the weekends!

After my 50K last fall, I was keeping an eye out for spring 50 milers, but the hibernation took over. I’m in half marathon shape right now, but I’m not in marathon shape, and I’m definitely not in 50 mile shape. Even though I have felt like I’ve lost a lot of speed over the winter, my race today proved otherwise. Steve and I did the MDRA Lake Johanna 4 miler. It’s free to all MDRA members, and we decided Friday that we’d go for it. I haven’t raced a short distance for over 6 months, and since many of my long runs have been at a 10+ minute mile pace, I figured I’d finish in 40 minutes or so. I hit my first mile in 8:29 feeling great, so I decided to stick with the pace. I hit mile 2 in 8:19 and was still slowly passing people. When I hit mile 3 in 8:14, I wondered if I could finish my last mile sub – 8, and I crossed the finish line with a 7:55 final split for a total of 32:56. Not too shabby for me… When I got home, I met up with Haley for her 8 miler and still felt great. Then Steve and I worked on trimming the massive bushes surrounding our house. I’m starting to feel a little pooped.

Well, I hope to keep things up around here, so check back soon. I’m still trying to plan my races this year around my sister Steph’s wedding (and all associated festivities) and my work schedule. I think we’re going to keep things pretty low key and local. Also, I have some sweet new gear to talk about. It’s going to be a great season!

My Nutrilite Experience

2009-12-06T16:03:00.004-06:00

Well it’s officially been 3 weeks today since we got back from our trip to Long Beach, California to Tour the Nutrilite Center for Optimal Health. I was waiting to get my bloodwork back and to have my consultation with their medical director to write my full review, but since that happened this past Monday, I don’t really have an excuse anymore!

Nutrilite, a division of the Amway company, had contacted Steve and Me to see if we would be willing to come to California to check out their campus and learn more about their company. After verifying that they didn’t want our souls or even rights to our blogs in exchange for them picking up the tab, we agreed. Honestly, who wouldn’t want an excuse to leave Minnesota in November to see trees with leaves on them and water that’s not frozen? I finagled my work schedule around so we could make it a long weekend (I’ve never actually been to California and didn’t want LAX to be my sole experience). We flew down on Friday, spent the day with Nutrilite on Saturday, and had Sunday to do some more exploring of Long Beach. Steve took a ton of pictures of our adventures when we weren’t meeting up with Nutrilite. His post here has all of them.

I was actually pretty nervous going down there because Steve and I had no idea what to expect. Would they spend the whole day trying to sell us a ton of supplements? What kind of blood work would they be doing? We knew that this was a “blogger” event. Who else would be there? That last question was actually answered on our ride from LAX to our hotel where we met John, a fellow Minnesotan who is actually a weight loss blogger. I’ve been blogging and reading blogs since 2006, but it never really occurred to me that there are people who blog outside of the “athletic blog” scope. I mean, obviously I knew that there are blogs out there about literally everything, and sometimes they’re about nothing. I’ve never explored them, though. Honestly, for how much free time I have, I can’t even hit up all of the awesome tri/running/getting in shape blogs that are out there. As it turned out, Steve and I were the only “athletic bloggers” there. We had a great variety of weight loss bloggers, healthy living bloggers, and personal training bloggers. Steve and I have had a lot of blogger meet ups, so that part isn’t new to us, but it was a little different to have people bringing up our past races as awe inspiring and not just topic of conversation. My 50K at the end of October raised a few eyebrows.

Nutrilite is a division of Amway, and although I personally don’t have experience with that company, I am familiar with the stereotype of the pushy salesperson. Fortunately, I never felt like we were being pushed into anything. The day felt more like a learning experience and less like a sales pitch. We started off by having our blood drawn which was quickly followed by having a few measurements taken. I’ll discuss those results later. We were then treated to a tasty healthy breakfast before the learning began.

We started off the tour by learning a little bit more about how their supplements are made. One of their mottos is “Best of Nature. Best of Science.” This is probably a good description since the company chooses to extract the vitamins and other compounds directly from the plants that they organically grow themselves. They cited the numerous scientists and other researchers they have on staff and showed us a video of how the products are grown for their products. I don’t know how much evidence is out there comparing plant-based supplements to more conventionally made supplement products, but the theory behind it does make some sense. What I do know is that every person we met during our tour firmly believes in the quality of their products.

Let me take a quick break here to remind you that I am a pharmacist. As such, I came into this experience with a very different mindset. I am trained to be skeptical. I pick apart decisions that physicians make all day, every day. In my opinion, the best pharmacists are the ones that are of the mindset that every prescription is wrong until proven otherwise. It’s the safest way for my patients. Also as a pharmacist, I have seen over and over what happens when patients rely solely on supplements to treat very complex medical conditions, or worse, combine certain supplements with certain medications (this could potentially result in life threatening situations). I’m not saying that people should never use supplements. In fact, many supplements are beneficial, and some of them have been proven over and over again to be better than traditional FDA approved medications. It’s imperative, though, that if you choose to take supplements, you let your doctor and pharmacist know you’re doing so. I have long employed the strategy not to take anything “extra” in my exercise nutrition. Sure some of that stuff may give you more energy, but you really don’t know what it’s going to do to you after 17 hours of exercise. Bottom line: you need calories and electrolytes. Anything else is uncharted territory. Just because I’m a pharmacist doesn’t mean I’m a pill pusher, though, quite the opposite in fact. There are hundreds of conditions that need to be treated with conventional medicines, but those medications are not without risks themselves. They can have side effects, and they can be terribly expensive. I firmly believe that if there is a lifestyle change you can be making to lower the dose, number, or need for medications, you should be doing it. That’s why I found the Nutrilite Center for Optimal Health’s 8 Pillars of Optimal Health so refreshing. Their whole goal is to help people obtain their best health and to avoid some chronic conditions in the first place. (Interesting enough, this little soapbox basically says the same thing as the chapter in Dr. Duke’s book I just went back to read).

So… Those pillars of health. Most are self explanatory. They are:
1. Reduce your risk factors for chronic disease. Many of us were just given crappy genes, and there’s nothing we can do about that. Risk factors like smoking, however, can be changed.
2. Exercise – we learned about the 4-3-2-1 approach which I’d like to discuss on a future post.
3. Good macronutrition – eating appropriate amounts of carbs, protein, and fats.
4. Good micronutrition – getting appropriate amounts of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients (beneficial compounds found in food that aren’t vitamins or minerals). One great message I took away from my day at Nutrilite is to think color when thinking about phytonutrients. Color dictates the type of phytonutrients that can be found in a specific type of fruit or vegetable. There are 5 colors to look for – purple, orange, white, green, and red. Click here for more info regarding which phytonutrients can be found in your fruits and vegetables. Most people fall short in this category, and that’s where taking a daily multivitamin comes in. Nutrilite emphasized that taking a daily phytonutrient supplement should also be common practice. I don’t know if I’ve quite bought into that yet, but I have been working on eating lots of rainbows!
5. Mind, spirit, and positive attitude.
6. Adequate rest – are you getting enough sleep?
7. Good medical care.
8. Healthy environment and good hygiene.

Overall, I left the weekend knowing that I need to be taking better care of myself, especially in the nutrition department. I really struggle to eat enough fruits and vegetables during the winter. I can’t get enough in the summer, but when the sun disappears, all my body wants is carbs. I’ve actually been doing a pretty good job in the 3 weeks we’ve been back. One thing that Steve and I have been doing more of is more frequent trips to the grocery store. We have the luxury of having more than 8 different grocery stores within a 5 mile radius of us. We used to employ the strategy of making one HUGE run every 3 weeks or so, but then we spent a ton of money, and much of the produce would go bad toward the end. Lately, we’ve been making weekly trips to the small organically-grown grocery store by our house (we save cereal runs and other pricey items for SuperTarget when I have my 10% off coupon – I can’t afford to feed Steve the $5/box cereal not on sale). The prices are a bit more expensive, but I’m not stocking up on crap that we don’t need and produce that’s going to go bad. Plus I’m really starting to realize the value of not putting tons of herbicides and pesticides into your body.

So as I mentioned earlier, I received my individualized health assessment in the mail at the end of last week, and Nutrilite’s Medical Director, Dr. Duke Johnson, gave me a call to discuss my results this past Monday. He started off the consult by stating that we were aiming for optimal health, not necessarily a perfect body. Good thing cause I’m far from it! Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.
* I need to work on flexibility (I have none in my hamstrings and am not a big fan of stretching in general).
* My bone density is great – chalk that up to 12+ years of running starting in my teens.
* I am deficient in Vitamin D – pretty common if you live in a northern latitude, or, as new research suggests, nearly anywhere. Turns out you may not get enough from sun exposure after all.
* My cholesterol numbers actually don’t look terrible, and my “good” cholesterol has improved since the last time I had it checked. This is one area where my bad genes come into play, so I’ve been watching it closely.
* My thyroid’s fine.
* My blood pressure and heart rate currently do not put me at risk for chronic disease.
* My body composition is still considered “healthy,” but it has changed over the last 6-7 years, even though my weight hasn’t. I think this may have to be the subject for a future post. Overall, my BMI, waist to hip ratio, and body composition combined fall somewhere between “ideal” and “normal.”
* One area that surprised me: my iron studies looked great. I can’t remember the last time I ate red meat. I actually have to force myself to eat any meat sometimes just because I know that I need the protein, so it’s nice to know I’m still doing OK in the iron department.

My consultation with Dr. Duke didn’t take very long. I knew what all of the lab values meant so I didn’t have a lot of questions. He did recommend that I take 3 pills of omega 3 (fish oil)/day, their magnesium/calcium/vitamin D supplement, Double X (their super powered multivitamin/mineral/phytonutrient combo), and a fruits and veggies supplement. That seems like a lot of stuff, and I still don’t know how I feel about taking all of it. One thing I did ask Dr. Duke about was the amount of Vitamin D found in their supplements. He stated that the Double X and the Mag/Ca/Vit D supplements each have 400 units. That would take me to a total of 800 units/day. The current accepted recommendation for Vitamin D is 1000-2000 units per day for people found to be deficient. None of Nutrilite’s products currently contain that much. Dr. Duke did state that they have a product coming out in another month or so that has higher Vitamin D levels. (Side note: Vitamin D is a fat soluble viamin. There is a possibility of “too much of a good thing. You can overdo it if you take too much).

Overall, the weekend was a great reminder of how to get and stay healthy and why our health needs to be a priority. I do think it kicked me in the butt a little bit, which I usually need this time of year. Racing season is over, and my body wants to go into hibernation mode. I left feeling like I had the tools to make some positive changes in my life.

(Full Disclosure: Nutrilite flew Steve and I out to their facility and paid for our hotel stay. They also paid for our blood work and several meals while we were there. I have no relationship with Nutrilite or Amway, and I was not paid for this write up. This statement is to comply with the new regulations.)

Surf the Murph 50K Race Report

2009-11-01T17:12:00.017-06:00

I think I'll preface this race report by saying that "officially" I am now an ultra runner, but I don't know how I really feel about it. I sort of consider a 50K a glorified marathon, like you don't really earn that title till you've gone MUCH further. Still, a number of seasoned ultra marathoners told me yesterday that I was now one of them, but I've quickly learned that that's just how welcoming they are.

We set the alarm for 4:30 AM. Steve's race didn't start till 8:30, but my registration opened just before 6, and I knew the drive would take me a little over 30 minutes. I got to the race site easily. My practice run there last week made me comfortable finding the site. I parked and went to find Guy and Jenny who were about to start their 50 mile race. I gave them both huge hugs and thanked them both for all of their advice over the last couple of weeks. A few minutes later, they were off!

I checked in, and it was just like Guy and Jenny said it would be. Everybody was super laid back and friendly, just standing around and chatting it up. I prepared my two gear bags then struck up a conversation with a fellow 50K runner. It was his first distance race. He skipped the marathon completely before braving a trail race. I don't think I would have been that crazy!

A minute or two before the race, we all filed out of the small park chalet. There was no "official" starting line. Nobody was running wind sprints to warm up. There was no National Anthem. We all stood out there with our head lamps on as the race director made it very clear that we were supposed to follow the flag markers and not the runners in front of us. Then he shouted "GO!" and we all took off. The 50 milers had started at 6, and the 25K, the marathon, and the 50K all started together at 7.

As we all headed into the darkness, you could hear all of the happy chatter between the runners, some between old friends and plenty of people making new ones. I talked it up with a couple of guys who were doing their first 50K, and we ran the first 3.5 miles together or so. When we hit that first aid station, I quickly learned the magic that is the food at trail races. They had everything - gummi bears, M&Ms, Gardettos, Cheese Its, Heed, Hammer Gels, and loads more. I wondered if I'd be able to peel myself away from the aid stations down the road!

The aid stations were small but well stocked!

I don't have a Garmin, so my plan was just to guestimate my pace using the approximate location of the aid stations. My lungs weren't burning too bad, but I hit the first one in 35:19 and quickly decided that I needed to slow down. I was in the most difficult area with lots of huge hills covered in rocks, roots, and leaves that required walking up them. I knew I needed to take that area slow in order to still be moving in 28 miles!

As I headed to the next aid station, daylight crept up, and I was able to take my headlight off. Miles 3.5-6 took me 35:09 (I'm not quite sure that the aid station was really at 3.5). It was the hilliest section, and there were times I had to walk the uphill and the downhill because the terrain was too steep and uneven.

The course sort of looks like a figure 8, and we did 2 loops. We left gear bags at the start and at mile 6, the middle of the figure 8. I dropped off my headlight and extra shirt, grabbed some more food (including a handful of yummy gummi bears!), and was off to start the bottom loop. Boy was it muddy! We had a beautiful day out there, but it had been raining for days, so the grassy area was pretty soupy in parts.

I hit mile 10 in 1:51:46. That aid station had all of the normal goodies plus pumpkin soup and banana bread. How cool is that? Right after that aid station, we headed onto some single track

Some of the single track

One of several downed trees in the path

Then the trail opened up to the real mud...

Much of the lower loop looked like this

I think this pic speaks for itself

I chatted it up with one of the 25 K runners for a while. His wife is an ultra marathoner, so it was cool to hear him talk about some of her races. He had to stop to change his shoes at the horse trailer aid station (which I hit in 36:5 for 2.5 miles - pretty sure that was off...). I kept going. It was on my way back that I met Hollie and Kami. Hollie had done a couple of 50Ks before, and Kami is a rock star who's done ultras all over the place, including Sawtooth 100 miler. Yes I said 100 miles. Holy. Smokes.

It took me around 1:04 to cover the last 3.7 miles. This part was a little single track before going back to rocks, roots, leaves, grass, and hills. Then we hopped onto some very adventurous single track to complete the loop. I finished the first lap in 3:33:21. I grabbed some more gummi bears from the aid station and refilled my Sharkies supply.

I also grabbed my cell phone. The plan was to have it so Steve and I could connect at the horse trailer aid station at mile 21.5. He called shortly after to say he was nearing the park, and I told him I'd be a little while, so he grabbed a foot long sub on his way. He'd already run in and placed 3rd at the Monster Dash 10 miler earlier that morning. My stomach was starting a little funny at that point, and I knew I was done with the Sharkies and the gummi bears. I was ready for some real food. My general rule for distance races is that if something sounds good, it'll go down and stay there. I was really in the mood for some PB & J, but the aid station didn't have any, so I grabbed a cup full of Gardettos. Yummy! I hit that aid station in 45:14, nearly 10 minutes slower than my first time covering that section.

It took me 35:37 to cover the next 2.5 miles or so, and the hills seemed MUCH bigger the second time around! I was still running with Hollie, Kami, and 2 other women, and at one point somebody commented that we had half to women's field in our pack. Now this atmosphere is FAR from competitive, but I think that comment got us all thinking a little bit... I was getting excited as I neared the horse trailer station because I knew Steve would be meeting me there to run the 6 mile bottom loop (the 50K and 50 mile runners were allowed pacers after the first loop).

I neared the park, looked up, and saw Steve sitting by the fire. The horse trailer aid station had PB & J, so I ate two 1/4 sandwiches and was on my way. It was SO fun to have him running with me. I apolized for taking him on the muddiest and least scenic part, but it was still beautiful.

Running with Hollie. Steve had just started with us.

The leaves were rustling, the geese were honking. It was just a gorgeous day.

We had great weather!

Picturesque

We ran the next 4 miles or so in 50:16. Then I headed into uncharted territory for me. That aid station was right around mile 26. I've run 11 marathons but never anything further...

The next 2 miles took us 41:42 (again, markers probably weren't exact).

Running through the reeds

Near one of the lakes

Running through the sumac

And then we saw the aid station.

(You can see the aid station on the far left.)

We said goodbye, gave each other a smooch, and Steve took a shortcut to the finish line in his car. I had just under 4 miles to go. The funny thing is that during a marathon, 4 miles seems like an eternity, but yesterday I "only" had 4 miles left. I tried to walk fewer hills. I just kept telling myself that I didn't need to conserve energy any more. I didn't have much choice but to walk when we were on the steep leaf covered muddy single track hills or when I was climbing over trees, but I kept running when I could. When I crossed from single track to open trail for the final time, I saw Steve sitting at the top of the hill. He was cheering like a maniac, even after running 20 or so miles of his own. He jogged with me to the finish.

Coming out of the single track. You can see the markers on the right.

One last hill...

The "finish line"

I did it!

I had just finished. Guy and Jenny were heading out

for another loop to finish out their 50 miler.

Final thoughts:

* There aren't any official results up yet, but I'm guessing I was in the bottom 1/4 or so. I'm sure with more than 2 practice trail runs beforehand, I'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing where and when to conserve my energy and when I can use a little more of it.

* I LOVE this community. It totally suits me - the food, the friendliness, the beauty of the course, everything. I thought more than once while I was out there that I was racing in the gorgeous fall woods with 160 new friends while Steve was in the middle of downtown Minneapolis with over 5000 other runners worrying about traffic, parking, and porta potty lines. Not to say that I don't like that once in a while, just not every time.

* The race went by SO fast. I know it sounds crazy, but there wasn't a lot of down time to dread how much further I needed to go.

* It's so much fun exploring a new athletic community. I remember when I first started in the tri community, I had no idea what Clearwater was. Yesterday I heard all sorts of race names that were totally unfamiliar, and it was exciting. It was really nice to know a couple of people who've done this before who I could harass with questions beforehand. It made a HUGE difference in my preparation for the race.

* This course was GREAT. The race directors are well known in the ultra community, and they did a fabolous job setting everything up. Everything went well, and I don't have a single complaint. The course was marked so well that at one point I hadn't seen a marker in a while and was sure I'd missed a turn somewhere. Turns out there just wasn't a need for extra markers at that point, and I was so used to seeing them all the time that a brief period between them got me a tad worried :)

* Training for a 50K isn't that much different than training for a marathon, but it's so much less about your mile splits and so much more about pacing yourself.

* I got some SERIOUS core workout yesterday. I coughed at around mile 27 and thought my entire core would explode.

* That being said, I'm really not too sore today. I would say that my muscles are a little more sore than after running a marathon, but my joints hurt FAR less. My right arm is killing me from carrying a water bottle for around 20 miles, but I'm not worried.

* If you're thing about trying a trail race of any distance, go for it! It's a blast. It's 100% different from road races, but you may just get hooked. I think I am!

Enjoying finally sitting down!

Those shoes looked new when I started. I think they look better now!

Steve and me warming up by the woodstove in the chalet

I don't know why, but my fingers REALLY swelled up afterward.

Thankfully it went away quickly!

Before I hopped in the shower. Notice the swollen toes to match the swollen fingers. What's missing? Blisters. I don't even have one...

Thanks again to Guy and Jenny for all of their pre-race advice, Steve for supporting me all the time through this craziness and running with me, and Kami and Hollie for keeping me company out there! See you next time! I have a feeling there will be one. :)

What the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks Have I Gotten Myself Into??

2009-10-23T19:24:00.006-05:00

So, about this 50K... Like I said in my last post, I waited to officially sign up for this race until I knew how well the groin would hold up. Training on hilly trails sounded like the last thing I should be doing, so I didn't really hit them until I felt good after TCM. Two weeks ago, I bought my new shiny blue trail shoes and hit up some single track by our house.

Yesterday I used my day off to check out the Murphy Henrehan park reserve, where the race will be held on the 31st. The plan was to do the 15.6 mile loop and tack on a couple of other jaunts to add a few miles. I brought the map with me. Thank God I did.

The race is offering four different distances - a 25K, a marathon, a 50K, and a 50 mile. All of the races incorporate the 15.6 mile loop, but the marathon and 50 mile tack on a little extra. I'll be doing 2 loops.

The loop is described as rolling hills for the first 6 miles with rocks and roots, flat and runnable for the next 6 miles, single track for 0.5 miles around mile 12 and then back to rolling hills. Since this is all new territory for me, I really had no idea what to expect. Turns out that "rolling hills" are some serious grade changes that I've really never experienced before. I'm sure these pale in comparison to some trail races out there, but yikes! I'm going to have to take it REALLY easy for those first few miles, both for footing's sake and to preserve some energy. I really didn't' know what "very runnable" meant in reference to the 6-12 mile mark, but it turns out that this is a good description. There are significantly fewer rocks and roots, and it's relatively flat. By the time I got to this part, I was already getting tired. It was cooling off, and I had put my long sleeves back on. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get back to my car! On the way back, I was walking off and on and feeling a little disoriented. I wondered if it was the cold air, me being tired, or the fact that so much of the terrain looks the same. By the time I hit my car, I was more tired and sore than I anticipated I'd be. Today my thighs feel like they're going to fall off.

A couple of things to ponder:

* On my run, I met Les, the race director. He was the first person I'd seen in nearly 2 hours, so I was a bit startled at first. He asked if I was racing next weekend then introduced himself. Small world!

* I emailed a new friend to ask a few more questions about running a race this distance. It's great to know a few people who have done this distance (and much further) before. The race website says that they will have "the usual ultra foods" I wondered what that meant. Guy replied, "Foods are water, electrolyte drink,Coke, Sprite, ginger ale, Hammer gels or similar, fruit, cookies, cakes,brownies, pb&j sammies, candies (gummi bears, m&ms, etc), and my personal favorite, canned boiled potatoes that you dip in a dish of coarse salt. (try it!) The volunteers are almost always fellow runners, so you'll also see specialty treats like homemade jerky, banana bread, grilled cheese sandwiches,and in the summer; fresh strawberries on ice!!!" Holy cow you may not be able to peel me away from the aid stations!

* I did get lost a few times out there. Well technically, I wasn't lost. I had just taken the wrong turn. I ended up backtracking plenty of times. When Guy emailed me, he told me, "You'll be surprised how stupid you become after running through the woods for a few hours." OK. This makes me feel a little better both on the lost front and the slightly disoriented front.

If nothing else, this should be quite an adventure!

Twin Cities Marathon Race Report

2009-10-17T19:50:00.004-05:00

Better late than never seems to be my recurring theme here. Looks like the last time I posted around here was over a month ago. Yeesh! My tenth Twin Cities Marathon has come and gone, and this year did not disappoint!

There was much more preparation involved this year because in addition to Borsch and I doing the marathon, 10 of our family members were doing the 10 mile. Many of them were staying at our place, and most of them were eating here for their pre-race and post-race meals. The weeks leading up to the race were a flurry of emails about sleeping assignments, food assignments, and changing guest lists. My family kept commenting on how excited they were that the race would be over soon. I was starting to wonder whether encouraging them all to sign up was such a good idea.

Steve, my brother Matt and I went down to the expo the day before the race. It was a flurry of activity, and we stopped to talk to several friends we saw down there. Mark and Kris were doing the 10 mile, Alli and Ryan were doing the marathon, and my coworker Julie was doing the 10 miler. I managed to get out of the expo without totally draining our bank account. I found a super cute pair of 26.2 undies for my bud Maddy's batchelorette party that was that evening. We stopped by the costume place to pick up the farm animal costumes before we drove home.

I spent the afternoon cleaning and getting some of the food ready. After most of it was ready and some of the guests were arriving, I scurried off to make an appearance at Maddy's party. I'm not so sure it was a good idea. I spent my time at home worrying whether I'd make her party on time, and I spent my time with the girls worrying whether Steve was managing OK with my family at my place. I left Maddy's just before 8 and got home a frazzled mess worried that I'd messed up on both accounts. I shouldn't have been. Maddy was glad I stopped by for a couple of hours, and my family was all fine (Steve is AWESOME!). We got all 14 people through our one working bathroom in a reasonable amount of time, and Steve and I turned our lights off at 10:30.

I didn't sleep all that well the night before the race, which is a little unusual for me. I dreamt about it most of the night. Steve got up before our 5:30 alarm clock went off. Turns out I wasn't the only one not sleeping well. It didn't take long for our house to be a flutter with race morning activity! My aunt Jen was dreading her 10 miler. She compared her feeling of dread waking up to the way she felt before going into brain surgery a couple of years ago. Other relatives chimed in that they were ready to get it over with. I was really feeling bad for having pushed them to sign up. The marathon didn't start till 8, but we left the house early so we'd have time to spare for the 7 am 10 mile start time. Borsch and I said goodbye to them all and went back into the Metrodome to warm up. There was a chill in the air, but I knew I'd warm up as soon as we started running, so I was just wearing my shorts, a sleeveless shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, and a garbage bag to keep me warm. I sent all of my warm clothes with my mom to have at the finish. Borsch and I did a bit of stretching before making one last stop at the potties. I didn't get to see him again before the start (turns out the guys line was SUPER long, and they waited 15 minutes before hijacking the women's bathroom).

By the time I got outside, the chute was full. I saw Jenny, Guy, and Kim lined up. They had a huge bucket of candy ready for the kids along the course. Too fun! We wished each other good luck, and I snuck up a little further in line. I had been gunning for a sub 4 hour race all summer long, but the injury and a couple of really terrible training runs had left me doubtful whether this was possible or smart. I had hoped for some last minute long runs to re-evaluate the plan, but then my buddy xt4 sent me a come back to Earth email reminding me that what I really needed with an injury was rest. I thought about it for a few days and realized that he was right. I changed my time goal to closer to 4:10 (around 9:30s) knowing that if the groin really acted up, I'd be lucky just to finish. When the gun went off, I was well behind the 5 hour pacers. I kept it super easy for the first few miles.

Mile 1: 9:39. I heated up quickly. I knew I would. The garbage bag came off.

Mile 2: 9:10. Still feeling good. I smiled as I ran by the Basilica with its bells ringing. The long sleeves came off too.

Mile 3: 10:59 hit the lap late, got boxed behind some people at the water stop

Mile 4: 8:43 laughing and joking with the other runners

Mile 5: 8:57
Mile 6: 10:33 - looked over at the lake and marveled at the beauty of this race
Mile 7: 8:32
Mile8: 9:38 -gave my long sleeved shirt to a coworker. I was plenty warm!
Mile 9: 9:21
Mile 10: 9:25
Mile 11: 9:15 - still feeling good. This is the point where the wheels came off in my last 20 miler...
Mile 12: 9:24
Mile 13: 9:32
Mile 14: 12:03- had to make a planned stop at the porta potty. In 10 years, this was the first race where I had to run with a ziplocked tampon tucked into the waistband of my shorts. It cost me nearly 2.5 minutes but was totally unavoidable.

Mile 15: 9:14
Mile 16: 9:36 - I felt so strong. I was starting to hurt, but I remember hitting the mile marker and thinking, "This is how a marathon is supposed to feel!" Right around this time, I found my coworker Tzivia. We run about the same pace, and I was so excited to see her. We were both feeling great and commented how the miles had been flying by.

Mile 17: 9:45
Mile 18: 9:24 - I was feeling a little low on fuel but had run out of everything I'd brought. I took advantage of the orange slices and bananas spectators had brought for us.

Mile 19: 9:33
Mile 20: 9:31 - grabbed a couple of Gu packets from the Gu stop (the only one on the course)
Mile 21: 9:23 - saw Maddy and Luke. Maddy was upright after her night of debauchery! I was so surprised to see her, and I gave her a huge hug

Mile 22: 9:59 - up one of the last big hills on Summit.
Mile 23: 9:23
Mile 24: 9:02 - Tzivia and I were picking up the pace. I was feeling good but didn't know if I could hold onto that for 2 more miles. I told her to go on ahead without me. It actually worked out great because she looked for my family at the Cathedral and told them I was right behind her.

Mile 25: 9:41 - I knew I wouldn't break 4:10 but was RUNNING and feeling great
Mile 26: 9:49 - I high-fived my whole family as I ran by them
Last 0.2: 1:54 - I went as fast as I could but didn't have much in the reserves at that point.

Total finishing time: 4:11:38 - my second fastest marathon ever. My PR is 3:58. Someday I'll get there again.

Final thoughts:

1. My family had a blast. I needn't have worried. They all did better than they expected and are talking about "next time."

2. I've been doing this long enough to know what works. After my 20 miler, I went back to my old shoes. I'm back in the stability ones I've been wearing for years and will save the neutral ones Endurance House recommended for shorter runs. I wore my typical 45 degree outfit (shorts) despite my body telling me I should have dressed warmer. I was hot and sweating out there in no time. I brought Nuun along cut into 6ths. I dissolved it into my cups of water. Sometimes I chewed it first (it's not pleasant). It helps my stomach so much that I had to bring it along, and when I was impatient, I chewed it with a mouthful of water. It absoluely worked.

3. Could I have gone a bit faster and come closer to breaking 4? Likely. But there are some things that you can't change, like necessary bathroom breaks. I could have walked through fewer aid stations. I could have shut up while running with Tzivia. I could have put my head down and gutted it out, but I likely would have blown up, felt miserable, and not have been able to break 4 anyway. Eleven minutes is a long time, even for a marathon. I had SUCH a fun time out there. I hugged my friends. I high-fived my family. I welcomed newcomers to the race. I thanked the spectators and volunteers, and for me, that's what running the Twin Cities Marathon is all about.

4. The groin was sore but held up just fine. I think I'm finally on the mend. I wanted to see how it did before making any decisions, but I think I'm in the clear. I've been eyeing this one local race since this spring but couldn't really decide till I knew where my body was. This week I did it. I officially signed up for the Surf the Murph 50K on Halloween. I've never run a long trail race before. I went out to test the trails last weekend and will be going out again tomorrow. I'm not sure I know what I've gotten myself into, but maybe that's for the better...

Get Ready to Rock 20 Mile Abbreviated Race Report

2009-09-16T20:12:00.004-05:00

I was heading into this run knowing it was make or break time. My recent injuries and lackluster long runs left me a little worried about covering the distance. Turns out I should have been. In summary, it totally sucked. I spent the first half of it trying to perform damage control. My left groin was sore. My right one started hurting too, and my abs were cramped up the whole time. I felt nauseated. The humidity and temperatures climbed really quickly. I had to pee from the start of the run, and in the absence of viable bushes, I had to wait for the porta potty at mile 11. My average quickly dropped from 9:15 for the first 11 to 10:30s for the total run. At mile 19, I decided that I really needed to suck it up and just finish the run. At mile 19.5, the nausea got really bad, and I proceeded to barf 4 times while a half a dozen people ran by cheerily chirping that we were almost there. I finished. Steve says my finisher's photo looks as good as I felt.

I've got work to do:

1. Nail down my nutrition plan. I may be wearing a Fuel Belt for the whole marathon. If it means losing a few seconds per mile to maintain adequate nutrition, I'll take it.
2. LOTS AND LOTS of ab work in the next 3 weeks. The salvage workout mentality has left me super squishy in the midsection.
3. Instead of the 15 miler on the books for this weekend, I think I'm going to make it 17 or 18. I need one more practice run.
4. I'm going to feel out my old shoes. When Endurance House did my footstrike analysis at WIBA at the end of June, they determined that I was a more neutral shoe girl, not stability. I remember vowing to myself that if I started to get injured, I'd go back to what's worked for the last 10 years. I did transition myself to the new shoes over a month's time, but that may not have been long enough. I ran my tempo run in my trusty Saucony Hurricanes yesterday, and I felt OK. I think the groin is slowly getting better anyway.

Right after the run, we headed out to Madison to volunteer at IM Moo. It was the most fun I've had in a weekend in a long time. Steve has tons of pictures, but I'll have to hit the highlights in the next couple of days! Happy training everyone!

St. Croix Valley Olympic Distance Tri Race Report

2009-09-07T21:30:00.003-05:00

Well, here it is - my last tri race report of 2009. The outdoor pools are all closing, and the lakes are getting colder. In a couple of weeks, they won't be swimmable. It'll be too cold. I had high hopes for this race when I first signed up. It would be my first oly of the year, and I really have been working on getting faster. The groin injury, however, resulted in a screeching halt in my training, and I've been on the bike and in the water all of twice each since Chisago 70.3 at the end of July. Like I said in my last post, I've been just trying to get in most of my critical runs in an effort to be well enough for the marathon next month. It's hard to turn that race mentality off when you get to the site, though. I had told myself all week that if my leg wasn't feeling it, it was totally ok to DNF if it meant saving the marathon.

Steve and I got to the race site about an hour early. We knew it would be a small race (the sprint the day before had 400 + participants but the oly only had 111). Even though the race was technically in Wisconsin (Hudson), it's just a little over 20 minutes from our door. We set up our stuff, said hi to our friend Jen and her hubby, and shimmied into our wetsuits.

Jen and me getting body marked

The Swim:

The swim was a 2 wave start. Men went first and women and teams went out 3 minutes later. I knew I hadn't really put in any swim time, but somehow my times always come out the same regardless of how much work I put in, so I was still hoping to come out in around 35 minutes - slow by most people's standards but pretty normal for me. I positioned myself toward the inside and at the back. I'm slow enough that this position just seems to work for me, and this time was no exception. I had a lot of open clear water for much of the two loop swim, and compared to my swim at Chisago, it was very drama free. I hopped out of the water in 34:11, a PR by over a minute since my last oly.

T1:

I was very careful taking off my wetsuit. I sat down and pulled my left leg out with my arms for fear that I'd really aggravate my groin if I tried to get it off normally. Jerry MacNeil, local tri announcer, joked that I was demonstrating one way to get a wetsuit off and then commenting that I had MUCH better balance than Steve in putting on my socks and shoes. It felt kind of cool having somebody giving my play by play in transition. Thanks Jerry! After all that futzing around, I was out in 1:50.

The Bike:

The bike was the big "if" of the race. I haven't been putting in the miles, and even though I knew this was just a 40K, it's still something that should be trained for. I had talked to the ART doc on Wednesday asking for his blessing, and he specifically mentioned that I should be careful not to pull up with my left leg. I was on track for my calculated sub 3 splits after the swim and T1, and I spent most of the bike trying to baby my leg but pushing hard enough to keep at least a 17 mph average, what I knew I'd have to pull on the bike in order to even be close to 3. I got passed by a couple of guys initially but I did pass one woman and a few guys later on. Otherwise we were pretty spread out. The roads on the bike were a little rough in spots, but overall the course was beautiful. It was a gorgeous summer/fall day, and it felt great to be on my bike. My average slowly crept up, and by the end, I finished the bike in 1:24:40, a 17.5 mph average, and another PR by over a minute. I know that had I been better trained, I could have been WAY faster here, but I was just happy to eek out what I did.

T2:

I hopped off my bike, and my groin was SUPER stiff. My normal hustle to the rack was quickly reduced to a walk in an attempt to stretch out my leg enough to actually muster up something for the run. To my relief, it started loosening up pretty quickly. Coming in on the bike, I really had to pee, and for a couple of seconds, I thought I'd be able to pee on the bike, but I just couldn't relax enough. I was in and out of T2 in 1:59 with a port a potty stop.

The Run:

Truth time. Had I really screwed something up in my groin or would I be OK? The first couple of steps on the run felt pretty stiff, but I was able to loosen up a little bit. I took a gel right off the bat and focused on a relaxed upper body and a shorter but quicker stride (long strides tend to irritate the injury). To my astonishment, the mile 1 marker showed up really quickly. I looked down at my watch and saw 8:54. I was hoping to hold onto that. It would easily secure a sub 3 hour race. Starting the run, I was excited that it was only a 10K. After 3 half iron distance races this year, somehow 6.2 miles seemed short! I didn't have enough room on my watch for all of my run splits, so I took them every 2 miles. I hit mile 2 in 17:04 which meant that either I was picking up speed really fast or the mile marker was short. Miles 3 and 4 took me 18:49, so I'm guessing the markers were a little off. I got really direction turned between miles 3 and 4. It was a pseudo out and back with a bit of winding around in the middle. I was so confused for a second that I was questioning the run distance we were covering! I was still feeling strong at that point. My weekly tempo runs with Matt have gotten me used to running with side stitches and out of my comfort zone, so I just pretended that I was running with him! I kept trying to pick up the pace knowing that barring no major catastrophes, sub 3 was on its way. As I hit the 400 mark, I could hear footsteps. Someone was gaining on me. Drat. I had been passing people here and there, but nobody had passed me since the first 1/4 mile of the run. I wasn't about to let it start just before the finish. When the guy finally caught up to me, I saw that it was one of the guys I had passed and chatted with a little before mile 1. He thanked me then told me I had a great pace and that I had been his rabbit all day. I had a little gas in the tank, so I picked it up and pulled him in.

Booking it in at the finish - you can see the guy chasing me's elbow

I finished those last 2.2 miles in 17:29

I averaged just under 8:37/mile for the 10K, which is a huge improvement over my last oly run. Total time was 2:56:04, over 10 minutes faster than my previous PR. Never being fully satisfied, I can't help but wonder how much better I could have done had I been totally healthy, but I guess this just means I'll have room for improvement on my next one! It's a little disappointing to see that I still came in 9/10 in my age group, but 7 of the top 10 women were in my age group, and I can't argue with improvement.

Overall, this was a super low-key, well-run race. I would totally recommend it. Steve and I had a blast, and he even came in 2nd in his age group.

If the groin holds up, I may do a local 20 mile road race next weekend. I'll keep you posted!

Long Overdue Update - Running and Lack Thereof

2009-09-04T20:36:00.004-05:00

During my Chisago race report, I promised to write again on the recent success that I've been having in my running. It was right around that time that I was feeling on top of the world on every run. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was running my weekly long runs by myself and tempo runs with my brother Matt, and we were really pushing each other. I was feeling so good that I was starting to realize that sub 4 was definitely in my future, and a little voice in my head was asking if I should be aiming to BQ, a feat I've long thought I'd have to age into. Around 3 weeks ago, though, I started having a little bit of groin pain during and after my runs. I took it easy until my next important run of the week - no cross training in between, just aiming to heal up enough to get through another vital piece of training. I've still managed to get in my tempo runs with Matt, but I haven't done intervals in around a month, and my 20 mile long run this past Tuesday was bad enough to rank in the top 5 worst runs I've ever had. I only made it 16 miles, and I had to walk a couple of those miles. It wasn't just my groin. I had nutritional issues, side cramps, and mentally, I was toast - feeling really defeated, like my whole body has atrophied in the past month. I don't do injuries.

I saw Steve's ART chiropractor twice this week. It's either a very strained groin muscle or a sports hernia. I thought hernias were for old grandpas. During my first visit, Dr. Folske was thinking there's a 50/50 chance of hernia vs muscle. My visit Wednesday went better, though, and now we're thinking it's more likely muscle. He's giving me a few more visits before referring me to a surgeon. The good news is that it's tolerable pain if I alter my stride just a bit. The bad news is that it's slowing me down. The marathon is just over 4 weeks away. I'm not sure where this is headed. I'm still keeping sub-4 in sight, but I NEED a good 20 miler before then.

Steve and I are signed up for the St. Croix olympic distance tri this weekend. I don't think I'd be doing it if I hadn't already paid the money. It has quickly turned from an A race with the goal of finally hitting sub 3 to a "C" cross training day set up to keep me healthy enough for the marathon. Arrg.

OK, enough griping. I am really thankful that I am able to still be out there. I know it could be much much worse. I'm just so used to being healthy. On a positive note, I am downright giddy to be volunteering at IM Moo this year. We literally have a dozen or so friends doing the race, and It'll be a mini vacation for us! SO excited to visit Ironman village! In the meantime, if you need to find me I'll be doing groin stretches and flat legged situps in my living room :)

Chisago Lakes Half Iron Distance Race Report

2009-07-27T21:08:00.010-05:00

The alarm clock went off EARLY Sunday morning - too early if you ask me. Steve and I had packed up the bikes and all of our gear after our pasta feed on Saturday night. When I asked Steve what time he was setting his alarm for. He replied 3:45 AM, and my response was, "Why?? We're not leaving until 5! I'm not getting up until 4:30." Steve and I always disagree on this point. He likes to be up at some obscene time on race morning to be the first one in transition. I prefer to sleep in and get there with plenty of time to spare but not so much time that I sit around and stew about the race. Turns out that we both won, or lost I guess. Steve's early alarm clock woke me up, and I couldn't really fall back asleep. However, we didn't leave till around 5. It left us both a little crabby.

We got to the race site, and I couldn't believe how busy it was! We had no trouble finding parking, but we did have to park a couple of blocks further away than in the past. I dropped off my bike and went to pick up my race packet. The lady handed me my race packet with my T-shirt - a size large. I had registered for a small. She also told me that she hoped I'd brought a swim cap. They were all out. I could feel my frustration increasing. I normally love this race. I've done it twice and am quick to tell people how great of a race it is - well organized, fairly low key, and relatively inexpensive compared to other half iron distance races. When I told the volunteer that they had me down for the wrong size, she apologized and told me to come back at the end of the race. Turns out I wasn't the only one. Two other women in transition also had registered for small shirts and were given larges. I tried to brush off all of the frustration. There was nothing I could do about it, and I didn't want it to affect my race. I was also a little nervous about the closeness in transition. I could barely squeeze sideways between the bike tires. I had no idea how I'd squeeze my bike through there too.

Transition closed promptly at 6:45. Steve and I had each seen two different pairs of his students while we were preparing in transition, so we knew we were all there. We met them down at the beach as planned. I was so excited for them! We snapped several pics, I gave Steve a smooch and wished them all luck, and I went to wait in line for my wave to start. I was in wave 6 of 10, and before I could think too much about anything, I was off!

The Swim:

We were in waves of 50, and since the waves went by time of registration and not by age group, I lined up toward the back and outside to avoid getting trampled. Almost as soon as I got my face in the water, my goggles filled up. Dang. I popped up, treaded water by just kicking, shook out the water, and started up again. Again they started leaking. I pressed them onto my face more to get a better seal. The water was really distracting, but every time I tried to breathe left (I breath every 3rd stroke), the sun rising BLINDED me. I tried dumping the water out of my goggles again. There wasn't more than a few drops left in them, but it felt all wrong. I started to panic. I had barely started the swim, I was out of breath, and I was panicking. How am I going to get through the next mile? I started getting a really sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is silly. I pride myself on staying calm in all sorts of horrible situations in the water. I need to calm down. Despite my best effort, it just wasn't working. I started to wonder if my race was over before it had even really started. I was verging on a total meltdown. I looked up and saw one of the volunteers just sitting on the edge of the swim line holding onto her orange life preserver buoy. I swam over to her and told her that I just needed to rest a second and get the water completely out of my goggles. (For those of you who don't know, the rules are that you can stop, hold on, and rest as long as you need to provided that you receive no forward propulsion from doing so.) The volunteer smiled and kindly acknowledged that swimming in a lake is much different than swimming in a pool. I don't remember what I told her. I think I just mumbled something. I wanted to tell her that I'd done this more times than I could even attempt to count, that this was the first time anything like this had ever happened, that I'm not the type of person who panics in a swim. Instead, I just held on, methodically dumped all of the water out, wiped my goggles, and started back into the swim. I instantly felt much better. I was finding a rhythm again when I went to breathe left and someone physically pushed my face under right as I was about to suck in air. I felt the panic creep back in, but this time, I was able to brush it off. I've never understood why people do malicious things during the swim. I don't think I ever will. The rest of the swim was relatively uneventful. I eventually settled into a comfortable pace. When I hit the turn around of the out and back in 18 minutes, I knew it was short. Dang. I was secretly hoping for a PR, and a PR just doesn't feel the same on a short course. Eighteen minutes halfway through a half swim is normal for a lot of people, but not for me. With my lack of pool time, I figured I was looking at about a 45 minute swim. There's a difference between a good day and a miracle, and with the start to my swim, I knew it was short. I'm not sure what my official time was exiting the water, but my total swim time came to 39:27 after running up a huge hill into transition. This is nearly a 6 minute PR for me, so either I had divine intervention or it really was a little short.

T1:

I needn't have worried about getting my bike out in T1 because many/most of the rest of the bikes were gone. I loaded up my jersey, threw on my gear, and was out in 2:56.

The Bike:

My goal on the bike was to PR. The last time I did this race, it took us down along the river and on some TERRIBLE roads. I had heard they changed the course and was curious to see how it was. The new roads were AWESOME! Nearly every one was new. There was a several mile stretch of road toward the end that was reminiscent of the old course, but for the most part it was great. There were lots of small hills and one big hill around mile 45. We had a head wind for the first 25+ miles, and I knew it would be a tail wind on the way back. I tried to keep my cadence up and keep working without pushing too hard. After the initial flock of people passed me and the sprint course participants turned off our course, I settled into a good pace and did a lot of passing. I pulled over at one water stop to shift my water bottles around when a porta potty opened up. I jumped on the opportunity, which probably cost me a couple of minutes, but when I really have to pee, it affects my ability to get in adequate nutrition. Speaking of nutrition, I really tried to focus on it this time around. I've had my share of nutrition issues this year, and I was determined not to let it get the best of me. I stopped once more around mile 45. One woman had pulled over, and when I asked me if she needed anything, she replied that she had flatted again and needed a CO2 cartridge. I gave her mine thinking it was good ju-ju. Turns out I was right. I finished the bike in 3:10:28 (the bike was a bit short at 55.4 miles), just a few minutes slower than my 3:05 pr at Steelhead, which was really short at 54.5 miles. My average came to 17.4 MPH, which isn't too shabby for me.

T2:

I hit T2 a little frustrated again. The swim was short and the bike was short. I knew I was on stellar PR pace but didn't want to earn it on a short course. I didn't see Steve at first, and I was totally OK with that. I was hoping he was out there with his students and they were all having a great time. I had to hike my bike up onto my shoulder to get it into the tight transition area! I unloaded and reloaded my pockets and was out - 2:10.

The Run:

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on my run, and it's slowly getting faster. Secretly, I was thinking that I could stay sub 10 minute miles if I felt great, and when I hit my first mile in 9:10 feeling good, I got pretty excited. My goal was to keep things steady but easy for the first 10 and let it all out for the last 3 if I had anything left. The run was an out and back, so I was cheering TONS of people in as I was heading out. It kept me positive and kept me distracted. The first 3 miles were relatively shady, and I continued to feel great. The next 3 miles were out in the open, and even though it was just a little over 80 degrees, it had some major intensity. I was heating up! Just after the 6 mile mark, I turned onto the little loop they have us do before heading back. On that back stretch, I saw the medics with somebody, and when I looked in the car, I saw it was our friend Jeremy! I stopped dead in my tracks. I asked Jeremy if he was OK. He sort of just shook his head. Come to think of it, he was shaking all over. I made sure the medics had called his girlfriend, who was back at transition with their kids. Then I started back up knowing there was really nothing more I could do. At that point, the combination of the heat, having already run nearly 7 miles, and seeing a good friend being hauled away by ambulance started to get to me. I really felt myself pushing but could barely muster 10-11 minute miles. I did see a few friends out there, including Nat, AmyBee, Ally, and Dr. Joe, who I had befriended at liberty. When I hit the 10 mile mark, I really started pushing, but my splits weren't getting much faster. I kept pushing. I passed a guy at mile 11.5 who decided to run with me. We ran the next 1.5 miles together saying very little but quietly pushing each other in. It was his first half, and he's doing Arizona in November. I wasn't feeling great at that point, but having someone running with me really seemed to help. We ran our last mile pretty fast, and when we saw the finish line, he told me that I deserved to finish first since I had pushed him to keep going. Not wanting to hold him up, I sprinted in. Ten feet before the finish line, I had to stifle the urge to puke. I hit the finish line along the fence knowing that there was a good chance I wasn't going to be able to stifle that urge much longer. I was searching for the perfect spot. I looked over the fence - computers and timing equipment, no good. Someone hollered to me that they needed my chip. I ignored them. I was headed for an emergency. I looked at the grass in front of me - definitely a possibility, but then I saw it. There was a big Rubbermaid tote with used cups and other garbage toward the back of the finish area. I walked over, leaned in, and let out some serious projectile vomit. Twice. It was heavenly. I layed down on the grass and hoped the nausea would pass, and instantly two volunteers ran over asking if I was OK. I smiled and told them that I was fine, that I just needed to lay down for a bit. One of them asked if he could take my pulse. I replied that he was welcome to, but I had just sprinted to the finish line so it was likely going to be crazy. Then I apologized for having barf breath. I tried to keep joking around with them because I really did feel OK. I slowly sat up, waved to Steve, and asked him if he got the ralphing incident on camera. I often feel nauseated at the end of races, and it's not uncommon for me to have to rest for a second for it to pass, but I have to say that I'm pretty proud of the fact that I actually did hurl. I guess it's sort of a badge of honor thing. I really did push myself hard. It paid off too. I pr'd on the run by 2 minutes - 2:11:53 for an average of 10:04/mile, not too far off my goal of sub 10s. Total finishing time: 6:06:59, a 30 minute PR, a 20+ minute PR if you want to add some extra time on for another 0.5 miles on the bike and 0.2 miles for the swim. Either way, I'm starting to wonder if sub-6 is actually within my reach, and that makes this slowpoke really excited.

Final Comments:

*They did exchange my race shirt after the race was over. We're good again.

*Jeremy had to be taken away by ambulance, but 4 liters of fluid and a few drugs later, he was as good as new. The race director gave him free entry for next year :)

*It was AMAZING to have so many friends out there. Thanks for making my day everybody!

More reflection on the race to come. I need to head to bed for another long day at work tomorrow. Plus, marathon training resumes tomorrow night with a 7-8 mile tempo run!

Race Tomorrow!

2009-07-25T08:37:00.004-05:00

As usual, I'm SO behind on posting. It's been a super busy summer, and with the home improvement projects, work, and family time, it's flying by. I have a ton of updates I want to put up here, but we've got to clean the house for four hungry triathletes to be coming over tonight for a pasta feed. For now, I'll just have to tell you that my running has really been coming along. For the first time in years, I actually feel like I'm seeing improvements.

Race tomorrow - Chisago Half Iron Distance. This will be my third time at this race, and the weather is actually expected to cooperate for a change! The last 2 times I did this race, the heat index was over 100 degrees. Tomorrow's supposed to be around 80. It will be my 7th 70.3 and my 5th 70.3 in a year. I love this distance! It may turn into a super social fest. We know so many people who are racing it. This is gonna be so much fun :)

WIBA and Marathon Training

2009-07-02T20:56:00.003-05:00

Back from WIBA this past weekend, and as usual, it was a total blast. This was our 4th year heading out to Madison for the weekend of fun, friends, and training on the Ironman course, and this time, we brought a couple of Twin Cities friends along. IronGirl Nyhus and our friend Jeremy from Tri-ngmybest are both doing IM Moo this year and both came out for their first WIBAs. Hope you guys had fun!

Steve, IGN, and I all road tripped it out on Friday, checked into the hotel, and then made our way over to the group dinner. We caught up with LOTS of old friends and met some really cool new ones in the process.

Saturday morning came way too soon. Since the weather was threatening to be really hot and stormy late in the day, the open water swim started at 7 AM. The water was really too warm for wetsuits, so I swam in quite possibly the greenest, weediest water I've ever been in (see Steve's blog for pics of the weekend, but especially check out the face burned into the inside of my suit. I can't make that kind of stuff up). I probably only swam for 20 minutes or so, but I looked like a swamp creature by the time I got out. Yuck! Heading into the weekend, I was planning on doing my usual 70 mile WIBA ride. Since we were starting from Fireman's Park in Verona, though, most people had decided to do 2 loops (around 80 miles). I've done several 60 milers this year, but 80 on a hilly course is pushing it, especially since my knees were a bit tender from intervals a couple of days earlier. I decided to do one loop (40 miles) and see how I felt. I ended up doing most of the ride with Cara Sweet and Lisa Parisola, two super fun ladies. I had met them both before but hadn't really gotten to know either one of them. They are both a blast! It was really fun to pick Cara's brain. She's done several different Ironmans, a 50K trail run, and a bunch of marathons (including Boston a couple of months ago!). Lisa is just a hoot. That woman is used to training on FLAT country, but she survived the WI hills on a borrowed bike and in borrowed shoes. She even did it with a smile on her face! After finishing one loop, I tacked on a few more miles for a total ride of 62 miles. Thanks for keeping me company ladies! Thanks too to Stu and Al who rode those last few miles with me. After hopping off the bike, I did a two mile run off. Afterward, I was FAMISHED! Good thing Steve and Stu had started the grills and were cooking up deliciousness. I had the tank refueled in no time. Saturday evening, we went out for gelato. I love gelato, especially in the company of friends.

Sunday was our big run day. I didn't know how my legs would be feeling, so even though my marathon training plan called for a 12 miler, I was prepared to cut it off at 6 or 7 if I needed to. I was also not so secretly hoping to cover all 13 miles of the run course (the marathon does two loops). Cara Sweet and I started out together. She hadn't really done any super long runs since Boston. A baby with a broken leg tends to cut in on the workout time :) We started out slow just to see how we felt, and after two hours and twenty minutes of great conversation and being a little lost, we made it back to our cars. Hope I didn't get you in trouble, Cara!

Steve, IGN, and I rushed through the showers, packed up the Tahoe, and drove to Endurance House for a foot strike analyses and shoe purchases. I have been running in stability shoes off and on for most of my 10 years of marathon training. After watching my video, they told me I should be in a much more neutral shoe. Turns out these flat feet don't really overpronate! Conversely, Steve's high arches do overpronate a bit, so we both walked away with completely different shoes. I stuck with Saucony's, but instead of the Hurricanes, I'm now in the Triumphs. I'm trying to ease my way into them, but so far, so good!

... Which brings me back to the training front. After an exhausting weekend of fun and workouts, we had a sick call on Monday, so I pulled a double. This led to a late bedtime, which led to a very early bedtime the next night, and two days later, I finally got back into training. Arrg. Week 2 of marathon training is not going as smoothly as week one. I did my first tempo run tonight, and boy do I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to get my times back down. I've got time, though, and I know if I keep pushing, it will come. I've been chasing the 4 hour mark ever since I broke it in 2002. There are no excuses this year. I just have to keep working. Happy training everyone, and happy 4th!

Break's Over, Back to Work!

2009-06-24T20:59:00.002-05:00

I took nearly a full week off after my 70.3. Technically, my marathon training was supposed to start that Monday, but I decided it would be best if I took a few days off before diving into training. It always takes me a couple of weeks to fully recover from a 70.3 to the point that I can get through a long run without feeling like my legs are going to fall off.

I'm doing the FIRST training program again. My goal is to get in the 3 runs, 2 bike rides a week, 2 swims a week, some weight training, and LOTS of ab work. I've had a lot of trouble with cramping the last couple of years, and I know it's from neglecting the abs.

So far so good! I got in a long run with Borsch on Monday in the 90+ degree heat. Yesterday I did a mid-distance swim, and today I biked with my brother Matt. He's so much faster than me, and I was sucking wind for much of it, but I know the only way I'm ever going to get faster is if I'm chasing somebody during my training rides! This weekend is WIBA, which always proves to be a great time with friends and some really quality training. It'll be a great way to end week 1!